Harry Potter and the Day it All Changed
by GGUC
Summary: When Harry leaves the Burrow in DH Ron doesn't wake up to stop him?What if Harry left a note for the others?It's a twist to the story where Harry has been up to some things no one guessed.Takes place in DH.Warning Ron&Ginny bashing
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer: Evidently I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, locations, spells, etc. _**

**AN:/ So this is an idea that came to me…well I don't remember exactly when, actually as I'm writing this AN it's actually several years since I first 'published' this, I'm currently reposting/hopefully fixing some of the horrendousness of the earliest chapters, because well it's pretty bad and by pretty bad I mean it was God-awful. Anyway, enough pre-amble, theoretically if you're here you've read the summary, so without further ado, I give you: **

**Harry Potter and the Day it All Changed**

Harry internally sighed; Sirius was dead, and now Dumbledore, Hedwig and Mad-eye were too, and it was all his fault.

'Merlin, why me? It could have been any of them! It could've been Remus or Tonks or Hermione or one of the Weasleys or Merlin-forbid, Fleur. That would've been unbearable, she's engaged to Bill. If she had died not only would Bill hate me for life, along with the rest of his family, but she would never have gotten to enjoy actually being loved for her and not just her looks! Plus she shouldn't want to go _anywhere_ near death for me! None of them should!' He cursed silently.

Running his sweaty hands through his tussled hair, Harry released an exasperated sigh. 'This is _so_ wrong. I should just leave, at least then they'll all be safe...maybe I will. But what would they all think? Probably think I'm an ungrateful freak like everyone else; finally realize the truth. I should probably leave a note at the very least to thank them and apologize for missing the wedding. Yeah, that's what I'll do, then I'll hunt down the horcruxes myself and after that I'll go to battle Voldemort, and try to die with honour. At least then no one else will get hurt.'

That thought in mind Harry quietly got up and dressed, thankful that he hadn't yet unpacked his rucksack, and slipped out of the room leaving Ron peacefully asleep. He was even quieter getting to the kitchen.

Most people didn't know that Harry could walk around almost anywhere in complete silence—you were more likely to hear a pin drop than Harry. While technically being the Dursleys doing, it was not something they were particularly pleased about. Rather they detested his ability to traverse in silence.

Once in the kitchen Harry quickly found a piece of scrap parchment, a quill and ink before he began to scrawl his final note to the wonderful group of people who had affected his life so much.

Harry set the letter in a worn envelope and scrawled _To the Weasleys, the Lupins, Hermione, Hagrid, Prof. McGonagall and last but never least Fleur_. With one last glance around the Burrow's kitchen he set the letter on the table, walked to the door opened it and left behind a houseful of people who would be in an uproar in the next couple hours.

**Time skip—next morning**

When Ron awoke the next morning to find Harry not in the room he immediately went to his mother to ask where he was. "Hey mum?" he called out.

"What is it Ron?" she responded.

"Where's Harry?" Ron asked bluntly.

Looking highly confused Molly asked, "What do you mean 'Where's Harry?' isn't he with you?" Ron shook his head 'no' when they heard a shriek from the table coming from Fleur.

"What is it dear?" Molly asked.

Fleur, who had tears flowing freely down her face, held up a letter which now had her tear drops on it. "It's from 'Arry! 'E is, 'e is g-gone!" she managed to splutter through her torrent of tears.

The redhead woman nearly lost it, "WHAT! Harry's not –I mean he can't be...gone...Arthur!"

Arriving shortly after being called the eldest Weasley male asked, "What is it Molly, dear?"

Molly shakily held up the letter that she still had yet to read, "Harry's gone!"

Arthur immediately got serious, "Are you sure? He's not just somewhere else for a couple days? He isn–" Arthur was cut off by the arrival of Hermione and Tonks.

Having just walked into the kitchen Hermione asked, "Who's gone somewhere else for a couple days?" When she saw Molly and Fleur with tears going down their faces; Fleur was crying into her arms on the table, and Molly barely holding in a panicked sob.

Knowing something was definitely wrong Tonks asked, "Is something wrong with Bill?"

Bill called from behind them, "No, should there be something wrong with me?" confusion colouring his tone.

Noticing Fleur, Bill immediately ran over to comfort her. Fred and George entered with Ginny at the sound of the commotion coming from the kitchen; Remus and Hagrid not far behind.

"What the"

"bloody hell is"

"everyone"

"yelling"

"about?" Fred and George asked in their self-dubbed "twin-speak". Molly sent them a withering look briefly through her watering eyes.

Fleur finally managed to choke out, "It's 'Arry, 'e iz gone!"

At her words everyone froze before a collaborative cry of "WHAT?" resonated throughout the room.

Fleur pointed weakly to the letter in Molly's hand. "Zhat is zee l-letter 'e left b-before 'e 'e left." Molly looked with terrified expression on her face, at the letter in her hand and sighed.

"Let's all go into the living room and start reading this, shall we?" The redhead woman wearily suggested. There was a slow nod from everyone as they all found seats in the other room. Molly cleared her throat and began to read:

_"Dear Mr & Mrs Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Gred and Feorge,_ _Remus, Tonks, Ginny, Hagrid, Bill, and of course last but never least Fleur;" __She began before being interrupted._

"Hey! Is he trying to hit on my fiancée?" Bill snapped aloud. The twins sniggered, even Fleur chuckled lightly. It _was_ a little suspicious how he put her name.

_"If you are reading this I have already left the Burrow to find the horcruxes; ask Ron and Hermione;" __Molly paused to look at her youngest son and the other remaining trio member._The pair sighed and explained how the horcruxes worked and such. Molly took on a resemblance to a sabre-toothed tiger and the rest of the gathered group looked horrified.

Her rage exploding, Molly roared, "RONALD WEASLEY! You were going to go gallivanting off like a hooligan and leave the rest of us here to worry while you took on the Dark Lord? And if that weren't bad enough," She turned to Hermione.

"I thought you knew better than to try foolishness like that Hermione!" Hermione flushed at the duress.

"I couldn't just stand by and let Harry go alone!" the brunette snapped in retaliation before adding, "and neither could Ron!"

Arthur sighed "Let's have this argument later, okay? We need to read this letter." Scowling, Molly begrudgingly continued.

_"Thus I am on my way to kill Voldemort."_ There was a collective flinch at the name as Molly stumbled over the word.

_"I apologize for leaving after all the effort you all went through to get me here, thank-you once again for that, but I refuse to let anyone else get hurt for me. Especially you lot." _A very loud groan emitted from the group.

Remus sighed, "Always the noble one, eh Harry? Just like James." There was a collective nod of agreement.

"But why did he have to leave just because he thought that he was burdening us? He wasn't at all!" Tonks pointed out.

"Yeah, but he thought he was, and he thinks we would actually go to that much effort just for him?" Ron muttered only for Fleur to slap him across the face, shocking the room with her actions. They knew Fleur was feisty, or at least most of them did and Bill had eluded to it enough that the rest believed it, but they hadn't expected physical violence.

"Merde, you IDIOT! Of course we would do zat juste to 'elp 'Arry! And you 'ave zee nerve to say you are 'iz friend?" Fleur seethed, half yelling at the youngest Weasley male.

Ron put his hands up in surrender, "Okay, okay. Sorry. He just seems a little full of himself that's all." this time it was Hermione who slapped him, thwaping his arm harshly.

"YOUR BEST FRIEND IS MISSING! You really are a moron, you know that?! Harry is anything _but_ full of himself! He left because he doesn't want us hurt! And he's saved all of us here at least once even indirectly!" Hermione snapped, silencing Ron, and allowing Molly to continue.

_"Fleur and Bill I'm so, so terribly sorry to miss your wedding but my present to you both is underneath my bed upstairs in Ron's room. I hope you like it and have a euphorically, glorious future together; you both deserve it and so much more." _Fleur was in tears again, and Bill was close to as they listened to Harry's parting words for them.

"Zat iz why 'Arry iz zo special! 'E doezn't care what zee others zink of 'im or do to 'im, but 'e always putz on a zmile for everyone elze juste so zey can be 'appy!" Fleur spoke throatily, her French accent thicker with her emotion.

_"Now to the darker details that this letter entails, there's something I didn't tell even Ron and Hermione about the horcruxes, I am one."_ The silence following the statement was heavy, and left the members of the room feeling distinctly unsettled.

"Wait"

"what does"

"he mean"

"he's a"

"horcrux?"

"How is"

"that even"

"possible?" Fred and George asked confused when only silence followed Molly continued.

_"From the end of fifth year I knew, if I'm going to defeat Voldemort; I will die." _The banality with which Harry discussed his own mortality unhinged the pent up emotions in the room, with the witches and wizards sobbing and allowing their tears to freely fall. About 15 minutes later they were _finally_ calm enough to continue reading.

_"It's unavoidable. I pray that you'll forgive me for not telling you sooner but Dumbledore told me not to."_ This raised another unanswered question; why didn't Dumbledore want any of them to know? Why the Order members were never informed? Some days the man was too confusing for his, or anyone else's, good.

_"Now you, Ron and Hermione, may understand why I didn't want you to come with me to find the horcruxes. I didn't want you to have to watch me die"._

"Oh. My… Merlin, Harry!" Hermione cried into Ron's chest, cutting Molly off, whilst Ron just looked plain horrified.

"He knew–Harry _knew_ we wouldn't want to watch s-so he tried to–No! Harry NO! He can't just…" Hermione's words dissolved into halting sobs as she processed the connotations of Harry's plan. Once again, Harry's perseverance and self-sacrificing nature amazed them all.

_"Please forgive me for leaving, and live full and happy lives together. Bill, marry Fleur, and treat her right, or else I'll come haunt you from the dead."_ Bill gave a half laugh-half hiccup through his tears. Fleur gave a weak smile as the tears streamed steadily down her face.

_"That goes for Ron to when he realizes he's in love with Hermione,"_

"_**WHAT**_?" Ron yelped horrified, causing the rest of the group, minus Hermione, to laugh weakly. Hermione just turned red as Molly continued to read.

_"And Neville when he realizes he loves Ginny."_ Now it was Ginny who yelped in surprise and flushed, causing another round of weak chuckles.

_"As for Gred and Feorge, all the best with the shop; you better keep people laughing cause these days we need it." _The twins smiled weakly at each other.

Fred chuckled lightly, "Yeah George, we need to get your humour to a higher level than 'holy'." George gave a sad chuckle and a nod.

_"Tonks and Remus, thank-you so much to everything, love your child every day, love each other and remember you're both so special and not anywhere near a monster. (*Cough* Remus *Cough*)" _Tonks playfully whacked Remus' arm, while Remus rolled his eyes and ran a tired hand through his always messy hair.

_"Mr. & Mrs. Weasley I don't think I can ever thank you two enough. Please make up with Percy though you lot. Honestly he's only misguided, and he needs his family now to show him what's wrong. (Plus with me gone he'll be more willing to speak with you.)" __Molly had to stop reading as the tears streaming uninhibited down her face overcame her ability to speak. _

The room was silent as the Weasleys all shared a look before Bill gave a sad sigh, "Harry's probably right. We should try to talk to Perc."

_"Hagrid keep all the Hogwarts creatures in line for me, oh, and please get up the courage to ask Madame Maxime out already." _The half-giant in question went bright red, as the others gave a light laugh.

Fleur giggled, "Madame would probableey zay yez, Monsieur 'Agrid."

_"Finally when I die you will all find my last will and testament, that's right I already have a will done up too, inside the vaults of Gringotts."_ This caused a further stunned silence in the group.

"How and when in the world did he have time to do that?" Tonks asked, stunned. Nobody answered because nobody knew.

_"Last I checked it's with Griphook. Send my regards to all our Hogwarts friends, especially Professor McGonagall. She's helped me far more than you or she may ever realize."_ More confusion followed the statement.

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Ron asked in annoyance. The group looked around and shrugged.

"After we finish reading this I'll floo Minerva and ask her if she knows what he means." Remus said as he received a nod from the rest of the group Molly decided to continue.

_"Tell her I said to kick Snivillus in the crotch for me" _The room erupted into into laughter and giggles at the mental image of Minerva McGonagall, proud, dignified, composed witch and animagus, kicking Severus Snape, death eater and traitor of the order as well as a genuine ass hole, in the crotch.

When they could finally move, the twins high-fived and said 'Amen' whilt Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Remus and Tonks followed suite.

_"And get back to her rightful duties as the best Headmistress in Hogwarts history. (Dumbledore was the best _**_Headmaster_**_ though so it still works.)" _The twins chuckled lightly through their still red-rimmed eyes.

"We did"

"teach him"

"some good"

"logic"

"didn't we." They spoke rhetorically through twin-speak, it had always amazed them how well Harry could keep up with it.

_"~Best regards always until my ending," _Uncomfortable silence, and a chill entered the bones of those in the room as they realized they may never get the chance to say good-bye to Harry before he died.

_Love,_

_Harry James Potter;_

_Lord Gryffindor, Lord of Potter and Black, and of course, _

_The-Boy-Who-Lived._

They all gaped at each other, stunned; they had known the Heir to Gryffindor without even realizing it! And on top of that he was heir to both the Potters and the Blacks? Ron broke the silence with a well anointed "Bloody hell."

**Hello people! If any of you are readers of my other story ****Harry Potter and the End of the Beginning**** I hope you'll enjoy this story just as much. Now if you're new to reading my, er, 'works' this is actually an experiment I'm trying by doing a story that's more of a 'What if' from the books/movies. Please read, review, alert, whatever floats your boat.**

~**GGUC**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:/ Thank-you to all of you who are still reading this and have been patiently and/or impatiently waiting for this instalment. Unfortunately ****Harry Potter and the End of the Beginning**** is my primary story at the moment so this one has been taking a bit of a back seat. I caution any of you who particularly like Ronald or Ginevra Weasley that this is not going to be a good story for them at a lot of points. Ron is a fair git in this chapter as it is. I apologize to any who like them, but personally I've never been a fan; also Mr& may be bashed to a lesser degree at key points in this plot. Well that's enough of my rambling, on with the chapter.**

_**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters in this story. Nor will I ever, as I will also never make any profit off it.**_

Finally Remus stood, "Well it looks like we'll have to wait for Harry to return and continue to prepare in the mean time. He doesn't want us to look for him, that much is obvious. No matter how hard it is to not go hunting for him we can't just disrespect his wishes for our safety."

He paused for a moment looking into each of their eyes before continuing, "I think we should continue with the wedding and other festivities. Unless the bride or groom wish to wait?" he glanced at the pair, Fleur was still crying like everything she loved in the world had been destroyed.

Bill looked at his fiancée and shook his head, "I think it may be prudent to postpone for a while so we can re-gather ourselves. I know I'm more than a little distraught, and though I can't speak for Fleur–""Yez, I would like to postpone eet too pleaze." with a nod Remus went to the fireplace and flued to Hogwarts to search out Minerva.

Less than 5 minutes later Remus is back McGonagall hot on his tail. "What's wrong? Why is Remus acting so–"Minerva stoped talking upon seeing the sight before her. Molly and Arthur Weasley are quietly comforting each other; crying.

Ginny is being comforted by Fred and George who are also crying. Remus, who is sitting with Tonks again is holding her while they're both crying. Hagrid is blowing his nose so loud it puts cannon shots to shame.

Bill is crying while holding his fiancée, who she vaguely remembers to be Fleur Delacour, their also both crying. Fleur looks like a bloody mess, which is saying something considering she's part Veela. Hell! Fleur looked worse off than Ron and Hermione! And Ron and Hermione, were also holding each other and crying like the world has ended.

McGonagall cannot fathom what happened at the moment, so she asks, "Would someone please explain what in the name of Merlin is going on here?" Tonks took a shuddering breath to steady herself, "Minerva, Harry is gone–" Minerva looked horror stricken, "Who–" "Not dead Minerva, he ran away last night and only left a letter..." Tonks passed the impending letter to the elder witch.

Minerva read the letter quickly letting out slight gasps and sad chuckles as her face ran through a varying range of emotions whilst reading the letter. By the end of it she, like everyone else, had tears falling down her face. Minerva was a strong woman, no one could deny that, but even she had her limits, and Harry was her favourite male student, (Hermione the female student) since the Marauders' days.

She looked at the lot of them and suddenly felt very much her age, she carefully sat down. Remus gave her a sad look "Part of the reason I flewed you, Minerva, is because we were wondering if you could enlighten us what he meant when he said, _'especially_ _Professor McGonagall. She's helped me far more than you or she may ever realize._'"

Minerva shook her head, "I wish I did, but to be honest I have no idea what he meant." and for her that was a very infuriating fact. Tonks, observant as always, caught the look. "Minerva that's hardly your fault. He said himself in the letter, _'She's helped me far more than you or she may ever realize._' so I don't think he was expecting any of us to know what it meant."

Minerva sighed, "I know Tonks, I just wish we could find him! Merlin knows that he's been through far to much already...and now this! You-know-who making him a horcrux! He has to kill himself to save us! Harry won't ever get the chance to live! He already lost his childhood to this and now he'll have to die before he even gets to be an adult!"

They all knew she was right, there was no denying it. That didn't mean that they couldn't wish it weren't true. Hermione gasped, "Wait! If Harry's a horcrux, wouldn't he have to die _before_ V-Voldemort?" they all flinched at the use of his name. "Plus I think we should all use his real name from now on. If Harry isn't afraid to call V-Voldemort by his real name than out of respect for Harry we shouldn't be afraid to either."

After thinking a moment they all nodded their agreement. "'Ermione iz right." Fleur said. "Eef 'Arry isn't afraid to say 'is name then we shouldn't be either." there was an awkward silence that followed until Tonks finally broke it.

"Well sitting here won't do us any good, and Harry still has the trace on him, I'm going to speak to Madame Bones and see if she can detect him at all. If not I plan to look myself. I'll come back here if I find anything." she announced. The response was a rather large number of confused looks. Some of them looked like they were going to ask to come with her but she gave the majority a harsh glare.

"Before you even ask I refuse to take anyone under 20 and/or over 30." she stated bluntly. The twins silently cursed being 19 still, actually the majority found themselves rather angered by their age. Fleur promptly stood. "I will go with you. I'm already 20 and I 'ave no reason to go to work because zee goblins kindly gave me 2 weeks off to enjoy my wedding."

Bill made a move to stand but Fleur stopped him. "Bill, you cannot come with us. You 'ave to keep zese people updated!" Bill wanted to complain but knew better than to anger his fiancée. Or Tonks for that matter. He nodded, "Okay Fleur but you had better come back unharmed." before she could respond an impatient Tonks grabbed her hand and disapparated the pair to the Ministry.

It was at this time that Harry was in the process of duelling two wannabe Death Eaters. He started to wonder if he should just give up and let them take him but that would mean that there would be undefeated horcruxes, and that just simply wouldn't do. Two quick spells later the pair of Death Eaters were unconscious.

Harry sighed, this was getting old really fast. That was the fifth attack in the last two hours. He wondered if the group he'd left behind the night before had read the letter yet...and/or what they thought of him knowing he was a horcrux.

So far he had yet to locate any other horcrux, but he had a few ideas of what they might be...or at least where Tom might have left the pieces of his soul. Harry shivered. He could not fathom a place where such acts would make sense, but then again he was not a dark sorcerer hell-bent on taking over the free world and killing all non-pureblood. Although at the moment other thoughts were plaguing his mind.

'I wonder what Fleur is thinking of right now...probably the wedding. Damn. I should've gotten up the courage to ask her out back in fourth year. Seriously, what kind of Gryffindor am I anyway? Can't even ask one bloody girl out! An absolutely perfect girl, yes. But still a girl.' he was mentally berating himself.

At the same time he found that he almost regretted having left like that, not because he wanted them hurt or anything near that. But simply because he missed the comfort of knowing there were people around to talk to. He was well used to being alone, the Dursleys made sure of that. Yet he found that now that he had experienced friendship he missed having it around.

Harry sighed for a moment and decided to make a list of what he missed about each of the people he cared about. 'Maybe I'll send it to them someday before my ending.' he mused. After putting up many powerful wards, including some with Ancient Runes he'd read out of one of Hermione's text books, Harry sat down pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and began to write.

Tonks and Fleur had returned from their trip to the Ministry with sadly no results, thus whenas owl carrying a letter from Harry tapped on the Burrow's kitchen window, a week after the first letter, everyone was in a livid frenzy to see what Harry had written. Finally they were all seated in the living room again and Molly began to read once again:

**Dear Mr & Mrs Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Gred and Feorge, Remus, Tonks, Ginny, Hagrid, Bill, Prof. McGonagall and of course last but never least Fleur; **"Sweet Merlin, does he have to hit on my fiancée _again_?" Bill groaned out. The twins sniggered. The rest of them with the exception of Fleur rolled their eyes in amusement. Fleur was flushing deeply. 'Why does 'Arry keep addressing me so differently zen ze others?'she wondered.

**I find myself incredibly homesick tonight as I gaze up at the stars. For after experiencing friendship it is not easy to give up but for your safety I would gladly do it 1000 times over.** Fleur gave a slight whimpering noise, and surprisingly so did Tonks.

**I would face the gates of hell naked with only a toothpick for defence to save you lot. I hope you know and remember that always. **They were all once again crying whilst using each other for support. Even Minerva let Hagrid offer her some comfort in this God-awful situation. "Merlin, must he always be so damn brave?" Tonks muttered through her tears.

**As such I have decided to send this list which list some of the many things I miss the most about each and everyone of you in a rather random order. So here goes something.** "Oh. My. Merlin! What kind of git does that? We're already devastated...oh who am I kidding it really is sweet of him." Molly sighed at the end before continuing. Fleur glared at the elder witch for insulting Harry's present to them.

**The Things I Miss Most About My Friends and Family Figures**

**Ron Weasley:** **I miss the way he could always do something hilarious or just make everything seem more slack and like it was less of a problem.**Hermione laughed slightly as did Ginny. "He's right you know." Hermione stated.

**The way he would puff his chest with pride at each compliment that he received. How he always could set people off but fix it all with a brash apology**_. _The people in the room with the exception of Ron, laughed. Ron just grew red.

**Hermione Granger:** **I miss the way she always put a smile on my face. How she put up with Ron and my idiocies and was always ready with amazing skill, knowledge and technique**_. _Ron did have the audacity to flush. McGonagall, Lupin and Hagrid shared 'a look of professors' before rolling their eyes. 

**The flush of pleasure each time she won points for Gryffindor, the way she would share small smiles of appreciation when Ron and I when we got our homework done before she had to nag us.**Almost everyone but Hermione burst into laughter at this. "It-it's just s-so true!" Ron cracked up after Hermione slapped his arm.

**The laughter in her eyes when Ron or I got duped by the twins, and how she would then turn around and scold the twins for pranking us.**The twins high-fived and stuck out their tongues at their mother. "See mum," "even" "Hermione" "appreciates our" "pranks." just glared in return.

**I miss the way your lips twitch and your cheeks turn a pale, almost invisible pink when your thinking about a crush or romantic action you've had-You're welcome**_. _This earned Hermione a lot of questioning looks. She flushed. "Well, he means that he and I kind of snogged once or twice, at Hogwarts." she swore if she saw him again she'd kill Harry herself. "Where the bloody hell was I?" Ron blurted.

**I find that I miss you horribly right now just to talk about anything or dance to a non-existent song and beat.**This got Hermione a few more unwanted gazes. "Dancing?" "To a" "non -existent" "song?" "As in" "with Harry?" Fred and George questioned wiggling their eyebrows suggestively. "And talking" "about" "_anything_?" Hermione sighed. "It's not like _that_ you perverted gits!"

**Fred and George Weasley:** **I miss how they made every day more enjoyable, how they pulled pranks in even the most serious situations just to get a laugh**_._ "True heirs to the Marauder name, eh boys?" Remus said to which they stared incredulously at him, whilst McGonagall rolled her eyes. "W-wait" "you know about" "the Marauders?"

The werewolf laughed. "Know about them? I _am_ one. Moony to be exact. Padfoot was Sirius, Prongs was Harry's father, James. And well, Wormtail, is Peter Pettigrew." the twins stared at him in awe, and proceeded to bow. "You truly" "are the" "coolest professor" "ever," "sir!" "No offense" "professors." they said glancing at the other professors in the room. **The mirth and mischievous looks they always share. The way they could always tell what the other was thinking.** The twins preceded to laugh uncontrollably.

**How they always made the days seem less hard, and made tomorrow seem easier. How like every Weasley their faces would go bright red if or when they got embarrassed or angry.** They flushed at that part causing every non-Weasley in the room to break out into a well needed fit of laughter. Molly just 'humphed.'

**:****I miss how he was always on top of things yet totally disorganized**_._ "I am not _totally_ disorganized, just somewhat cluttered in my thoughts." Molly snorted. "Dear, I love you, but Harry is completely right with that statement."

**The way he wants to be the father figure but the fun guy at the same time**_._ All the Weasley children high-fived and said an 'Amen.' to that.**The way he stopped every time he encountered a new muggle object, just to figure out how it worked and what it was used for.**This point brought on more laughter to the audience, even if it was bitter-sweet.

**:** _**I**_** miss how she always smiled at all the people who entered her home, always expressed love for everyone no matter what.** had tears in her eyes whilst reading this. She loved Harry like a son, and that he had written this warmed her aching heart.

**The warm, strangling hugs**_._ Everyone smiled slightly, was infamously known for her bone-crushing hugs. **The way she'd reprimand the twins and Ron at the drop of a hat, but be hugging them less than ten minutes later.**

This caused the latter to burst out laughing whilst Molly went a nice Weasley red. Which caused even more laughter because Harry had pointed out that they all did that earlier. Bill laughed, "He forgot to mention Ginny, Charlie, Perc, Dad and me."there was a slight flinch when he mentioned Percy before they pressed forward in the reading.

**Ginny Weasley:** The girl in question gave a slight squeak. **I miss her cunning and ability to keep up with all the older people male or female. **Ginny flushed yet another Weasley red causing another outbreak of laughter when Fred and George clapped her on the back in congratulations.**The way her eyes shone when her big brothers would compliment her**_._ The group noted her eyes did indeed have a little extra brightness to them from her brothers' congratulations.

**The way she could manoeuver a broom without even trying**_._ Ginny, predictably, flushed what was quickly becoming known as 'Weasley red.'

**Bill Weasley: I didn't know you long or very well, but I miss the way you could laugh off your mother's rage even though most everyone else coward in fear**_._ There was some more laughter at this. Fred and George particularly. "He" "does have" "a good" "point." "Doesn't" "he?"

**The strange stories you told at dinner and the courage that was always present in your eyes**_. _At this it was Fleur who smiled. "See Bill? Eet iz not just me zat sees eet." Bill laughed. "Whatever you say."

**Minerva McGonagall: **At this it became Minerva's turn to be surprised. **I miss how she was so very strict and intimidating but would do anything to protect the students and those close to her.** There was a consecutive 'aww' to which the elder witch gave a mock glare.

**The small smiles that occasionally graced her lips when someone impressed her or did her or her house proud.**She sighed. "That boy is far to observant for his own good." there were some nods of agreement from everyone whose name had already been read.

**The pride in her eyes in every situation and the blatant refusal to back down from what she believes in.**What shocked everyone is that Minerva looked slightly embarrassed by the comment. "What it just feels odd for Harry to say it." the group did have to agree with that statement.

**The power and skill she always had, along with the courage and air of confidence.**She just 'humphed' muttering, "I am the Gryffindor Head of House for a reason."**Bloody hell! I even miss her famous McGonagall glare;**Minerva raised her brow. The twins, Ron, Tonks and Remus sniggered. **yes Professor if your reading this you now realize that your glare is famous and well feared.**Everyone laughed at that notion and comment. Ron asked a question that was on everyone's mind. "Wait is this what he was talking about in the first letter?" he just received shrugs in response.

**Remus Lupin:** **I miss the subtle father-son conversation where stories and tricks were shared. The way his eyes looked so far away yet so very happy when he spoke of my father and Sirius helping him as kids.** The entire gathered group of wizards and witches was in tears...again. Especially Lupin, Harry had just admitted to thinking of their connection in a father-son manner! Remus had never been so touched in his life.

**The way he was always ready to hear my problems**_. _Tonks, who was sitting beside Remus, gave him a nudge in the ribs. "Harry did always love that about you, you know? He mentioned it to me before actually." This statement of course raised the question that Ginny so happily demanded

"When did you talk to Harry about Professor Lupin?" Tonks rolled her eyes. "I am allowed to have private conversations with people you know." she pointed out in annoyance.**That he could teach defence so much better than anyone else. **

"Perfectly stated." Hermione announced, giving Remus a tearful smile, due to the tears that still stained her cheeks. There was a roaring agreement from the Weasley children and to Remus' surprise Minerva and Hagrid.

**Rubeus Hagrid:** **I miss the way he was always so helpful to me and others the way he cares for all creatures and always tries so hard for his friends.**There was a great sniffling noise from Hagrid blowing his nose that could very well have been a bomb going off. **I also miss the warmth of his hugs. The way you were always ready to have tea and talk with me.** Ron and Hermione gave nervous chuckles, "I think we miss that to over the summer." Hermione said.

**How loyal you always were to your friends, even if some of them are rather large and scary.** Ron sniggered.**I miss the little faults in secret-keeping that lead me to solving many of the puzzles I ran into at Hogwarts**_._ All the adults present in the room gave Hagrid a questioning gaze. Lupin ran a hand through his hair. "Do we even want to know?" Hagrid shook his head 'No.'

**I miss how his dog Fang always barked loudly from the cabin when company arrived and then preceded to drool all over said company.** Fleur, Tonks, Hermione, Molly and Ginny made a face at the drool comment whilst Minerva held a look of disdain.**I find myself wishing for your rock cakes right now...I believe I am desperate**_. _That did it the whole of them, Hagrid included, broke out in an immense fit of laughter.

**Nymphadora Tonks:** Tonks scowled.**(Sorry about using the first name)** She rolled her eyes indicating that Harry was forgiven.**I miss the way she always made anyone laugh and despite being clumsy always took people by surprise saying 'Wotcher!'.** Tonks stuck out her tongue. "He is right you know. I can be stealthy when it's necessary." The group gave a sniggering sound causing a few of them to be hit by curses.

**The way she never looked the same for more than a couple days**_._ Smirking Tonks changed her hair yet again, it was now bubble-gum pink and just reached her shoulders.**I miss the cool Auror stories and the quick witty comments and hexes.**Tonks laughed, "I still can't believe he enjoys listening to those stories and the hexes..."she trailed off.

**I even miss the feuds with Moody/ Dumbledore /Lupin over her name being 'Tonks' and not 'Nymphadora'.**The lady in question glared at the last of the three named men. "I oughta hex you just for the reminder."she growled. **I miss how she treated all of us like real people and not kids, if nothing else you could always trust her to treat you fairly; like any good Hufflepuff. **The gathered teenagers all sent Tonks a smile through their teary eyes.

**The sour looks she got when thinking of how she never made prefect, though I personally think you're perfect the way you are.** That comment seriously caused Tonks flush. It also got her some strange looks. "Care to explain Tonks?" Molly said dangerously. "Oh don't get your knickers in a twist, Molly. Merlin! We only snogged a couple of times..." the comment left the impression that it was slightly more than just a couple times.

**The untidy flick to your wand on the packing spell that you still can't get quite as well as your mother can...don't worry it'll come eventually**_._ Tonks gave a smirk "Cheeky brat..." she muttered.**How close you were to Sirius even though you barely knew him; how you comforted Professor Lupin upon his death even though you were hurting too**_. _Remus gave Tonks' arm a gentle squeeze of comfort. 

**Fleur Delacour: I miss the way the light dances off your hair and twinkles in your eyes when you laugh.** Bill shot his fiancée a curious glance. "And just how, does Harry know that?" Fleur shrugged, "We 'ung out together in zee tournament." "Wha? When did you do that?" Ron demanded. Fleur rolled her eyes. "While you were buzy being jealous or stupide."

**The way you put up with stupid people *Cough*Ron*Cough* always ogling at your beauty even though I think your intelligence and daring deserves more credit**_._ Fleur went a brilliant red and Bill muttered something about "Stop hitting on my fiancée." Ron just turned red.

**The kindness you extended to the Weasleys once you got with Bill and the kindness you showed to Cedric, Viktor and I once you got to know us in the Triwizard Tournament**_. _Bill smiled. "At least _he_ appreciates your effort." he said glaring at his family.

**I even miss the French accent every time you spoke**_._ "I zink 'e juste made fun of my accent." Fleur stated sarcastically.**The way you were fighting off everyone after nearly drowning in the second task just to make sure Gabrielle was okay**_,_ Fleur blushed and the rest of the group laughed. "I wish I could've seen that." Bill said earning him an elbow in the ribs.

**the love you showed and received from your family in the Tournament**_._ Ron, stupidly, asked. "Why the bloody hell would he miss seeing you getting love and support from your family?" Fleur slapped him...again.

"Idiot! Eet iz because 'e wishes 'e 'ad a family. 'E likes to comfort 'imself in knowingzat not everyone 'as to suffer. Zat zere are people who 'ave a nice family zat cares about zem." "Hey! He has our family! And he oughta be bloody glad for it!" Ron raged. Fleur glared bullets at him.

"You...you bugger! Eef you 'ad **any** idea 'ow much zat boy 'as gone through...'ow much 'e 'as suffered... you would be ashamed of every bad thought you 'ave ever 'ad about 'Arry!" Fleur spat in a cold fury.

There was an awkward pause of pure raging before Molly continued. **How there was no way in hell you were letting that Robert guy from Ravenclaw do anything to you at the Yule Ball**_._ "Zat was rather obvious 'Arry." Fleur said rolling her eyes.

**How you still put up with Ron even though he rather awkwardly half yelled-half asked you to go to the same ball with you.** Fleur glared at Ron still frustrated with him. Bill glared now too. "You asked my fiancée to the Yule Ball? By _yelling_ the question at her?" Ron shrugged. "Oh come off itshe's hot okay! Of course I bloody well asked her! Not my fault I got nervous." Bill just continued to glare and Fleur's eyes flashed dangerously.

"And zat iz why I like 'Arry better zan you! 'E treats me like a normal person and likes me for who I am. Not like you. You only like me for my looks."Fleur growled out at the youngest male Weasley. "Well duh. Isn't that what most people like you for?" Bill had his wand pointed at Ron faster than even Fleur, who was only seconds behind.

As were Remus, Tonks, Minerva, Fred, George and Hermione's. "Ron. Shut-up." Bill said coldly as tried to calm the room so she could finish the letter. They all bitterly agreed to hold off so the letter could be finished. **The respect that you showed me after, I hope, I proved that it wasn't without reason**_. _

Fleur smiled. "Eet was not without reason 'Arry." she said softly through her tears. Bill gently squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay love. I'm sure Harry knows you cared about him..." he said quietly in her ear. Getting a weak smile out of his fiancée before Molly continued reading. 

**These are the things I miss about all of you more than anything right now my friends. **There was a collective pause whilst the group let their tears flow silently down their cheeks. "Zis reminds me of z-zomething 'Arry told me once...'e said, 'No smile iz more b-beautiful zan z-ze one zat s-s-struggles through ze t-tears.'" the Veela choked out through her tears. Tonks attempted to give Fleur a small smile.

"He told me the same thing once...it was right after Monty, a fellow Auror, had died. I-I was crying too, when he told me." Tonks said. Fleur nodded. "'E told me right after ze second task, I was sad and crying because I couldn't save Gabrielle...zat's when 'e told me." Hermione smiled "He told me once, 'Giving up doesn't always mean you're weak. Sometimes it just means your strong enough to let go.'"

Remus nodded, "I bet you Sirius told him that one. James used to say that every time something bad would happen..."Tonks pecked Remus on the cheek in an attempt to comfort her husband. He gave her a grateful smile before Molly cleared her throat and continued.

**It has barely been two days since I left but it feels like forever.** "Not just to you Harry. To all of us." Tonks stated.** I request that you each try to move forward. Don't stay in the past like I am, if it becomes necessary use 'Obliviate' on the memories you have of me.** "He _is__** NOT**_serious?" Tonks growled out. "He wants us to _erase_ our memories of being friends with him? Just so it doesn't hurt as much that he's gone? No chance Harry. No fucking chance."

There was a lot of agreement growled out also. "How can 'e think we would do zat? I would never be able to live with me eef I did!"Fleur asked in exasperation. Nobody had an answer. "Either way I believe Harry is well aware it's a pointless idea to hope for." Minerva said briskly.

**I won't take offense. **"Of course you won't you stupid git! It was your bloody idea."Ron said earning him more glares, but Ginny decided to back him. "Well, it is true. Harry told us to do it, so why the bloody hell would he take offense?" Fleur glared bullets at the pair. "'Ow would you feel eef we all erased our memories of you?" Ginny flushed and looked down.

**I sincerely hope you've already moved forward, but if you for some reason haven't or couldn't, keep trying. For me.**

**Harry James Potter;**

**Lord Gryffindor, Lord of Potter and Black, and of course, **

**The-Boy-Who-Lived.**

The group was once again seeking comfort from each other, desperately wishing they could do something to make it false information. To let Harry continue to live, make all the hurting go away. Remus and Tonks were clinging to each other like their lives depended on it, crying their eyes out.

Fleur and Bill were in a similar situation. Although, Fleur seemed to be clinging a little more desperately. To Ron's great surprise, Hermione and Professor McGonagall were comforting each other, so he and Ginny were left to comfort each other for their losses. Hagrid was blowing his nose once again.

The twins were seeking to comfort each other as was Molly seeking comfort from her husband. If one were to walk in on this sight they would be overcome with sadness just from looking at it.

**AN:/** **So what did you think? Good? Bad? Why the hell are you writing this your writing is shitty? Oh my God I loved it? All feedback and reviews go toward making the next installment come faster, and help me when writing the story to make different plots occur or think on whether certain things were good or bad ideas. All reviews will be read, so flame me to hell if you want, and I will read it and take it into consideration, the same as any other review. All favourites, alerts and reviews are greatly appreciated, and I hope you all have a great holiday!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:/ Okay I **_**finally**_** got the new chapter of this story done (Shocking I know!) And it only took, I dunno, 3 months? I have **_**got**_** to start finishing chapters faster. Now I re-read everyone's reviews of the last chapter (Thanks again to all who reviewed!) And I think, hopefully, this chapter will be easier to understand with the whole 'Who the hell is talking?' issue. If it's not PM me, or review about it, cause you guys/girls are the reason I post this stuff (well that and I enjoy writing it), so if you can't understand it I need to fix it. Also, because a lot of you said there should be more warning I'll put it again here, **_**there will be Ron, Ginny, and Molly Weasley BASHING**_**. Okay, that's that covered.**

**I'm **_**really**_** hoping to be able to post another chapter for my other Harry Potter story over the next week and maybe even another chapter to this one by the end of this– but more likely next- month. (But don't get your hopes up, cause I am **_**really**_** slow at this. Sorry about that!) Well I guess that's mostly it for up here, so on with the chapter!**

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, or any of the characters in it– trust me if I did it would've gone a hell of a lot differently.**_

Harry groaned as he awoke and gazed out over the forest he had spent the night in. There was fog everywhere and it reminded him somewhat of the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. Thinking about Hogwarts sent a wave of pain through his heart. He wished he knew what the others were doing, or where they were, or whether his letter had reached them, and if they'd read it.

He knew he'd never know the answer to that though. He would have to die if he wanted to win this war, and he hated that, but it just gave him more incentive not to waste time thinking of telling Fleur about his feelings for her. Besides she was in love with Bill, and they were married by now.(**AN:/They aren't actually but Harry doesn't know that.**) Thinking of that he wondered whether they'd bothered to get his present yet? 'Oh well, that's not important now.' he mused. Before stretching and standing up. He was really glad Hermione had taught him that charm with the blue flames from way back in first year now; he'd have gone many a cold night without it.

Two weeks. Two whole weeks since he'd left the Burrow and he still didn't have a single horcrux in his possession, let alone destroyed. So now, now he had a really stupid idea. He was going to go to the Ministry of Magic and get help. Not from the aurors, or the minister or the unspeakables, he was going to the one woman in the Ministry that wasn't part of the Order that he felt he could trust. The woman he'd only met briefly during his trial at the summer between his fourth and fifth years. Amelia Bones.

He didn't know much about her other than the fact she was Head of the DMLE and Susan's aunt. But if the way Susan spoke of her, and the small amount of time he'd seen her was any indication, she was a person who could be trusted. She seemed very fair, much like McGonagall, only she had powers within her position that McGonagall did not. She was in the Ministry, which meant if Harry could successfully break in and talk to her, he might be able to convince her to help him. He got the distinct feeling that one of the horcrux was somewhere in the Ministry. He'd seen the Ministry more than once in his dreams after all. Even though the Ministry incident had happened almost a year and a half ago. Along with brief flashes of other places that he didn't recognize, but had to assume were where the other horcrux were. He wouldn't know for sure though until he checked, and though he would probably be kicking himself for even thinking of trying this later; that was what he was going to do.

Almost 4 days later Harry had successfully transfigured his appearance to look completely different, and for good measure he'd also stuck his invisibility cloak into the pocket of his coat. Cautiously he entered the Ministry, feeling almost as off centred as the time McGonagall had made him Quidditch Seeker. As soon as he was in, he immediately began looking for the signs leading to the elevators. Once in an elevator, thankfully by himself, he said to the box, "Amelia Bones office." It repeated what he'd said back to him, before taking off and up to the 4th floor where her office supposedly was.

When it stopped Harry stepped out, and went up to the secretary and said simply, "Requesting to speak to ." "And you are?" the secretary questioned. "An old friend." he replied. The secretary huffed, before growling out, "Very well I shall ask , if she wishes to see 'an old friend'." the secretary went into the office and a moment later herself, came out. She fixed him with a hard look, and so she'd know who he was he casually ran a hand through his hair, pulling back his now brown bangs for half a second so she could see the scar.

He was not disappointed, "Ah yes, , this is Thompson." she supplied quickly. "He is an old friend of mine, and if he shows up here, you are to let him in my office. Understood?" nodded deftly before said to 'Fredrick' "Come in to my office then ." Harry followed her in, and the second she closed the door and threw a couple privacy and silencing charms on it she rounded on him. "Do you want to tell me what the bloody hell you're doing here, ?"

He sighed quietly and said, "I know it's a lot to ask, but I need your help." Amelia gave him a hard look. "What on Earth would posses you to come to _the Ministry_ and ask _me_ for help?" she demanded. Sighing he said, "I think one of the things I'm looking for is here, and I need someone on the inside to help me with that. I chose you because 1)Susan always spoke highly of you, and I trust her as well as her judgement. 2)The brief time I met you at my court hearing you seemed very fair, and unassuming. And 3)If anyone can help me with this I think it's going to be you; especially because, and I'm so sorry to bring this up, but Voldemort is the reason that a large part of your family is dead."

Amelia flinched when he said the name and breathed in sharply as he mentioned her late family. "So what if I say no?" she questioned. He shrugged, "Then I respect your decision, hope to all that is holy you don't report me, and don't bother you again." she blinked. "You make it sound so easy. It's not a game . I hope you are aware of that."he chuckled. "I am all to familiar with the fact that it is no game. Yet at the same time, it almost is. All this hunting people down, duelling people on sight, and chasing after things no one knows where they are...kind of reminds me of a muggle game I saw Dudley play once."

Glancing around her office for a moment first, Harry locked eyes with her and said, "I hate to give an ultimatum but, I need to know. Are you willing to help me?" Amelia looked deep in thought for a moment before standing and strolling behind her desk and looking out the magicked window. ", you ask a lot of me. I have 2 conditions in order for me to help you. One, explain what the devil you're looking for and why you need to find it to me, and two, don't get yourself killed fighting some random death eater, or getting caught on the way in."

Harry grinned and began to explain what he was hunting for and why he thought it was where it was. To say Amelia was shell-shocked would be a _major_ understatement. "So, let me get this straight...you need to find all the Horcrux, which You-Know-Who has made _**7**_ of, and you believe one of them is at the Ministry, so you need my help to locate and retrieve that one. Am I missing anything vital here ?" Harry chuckled lightly, "Not at all Madame." Turning to gaze at some of the photos on the wall, he had to ask, "How is Auror Tonks doing these days?"

Amelia blinked at the seemingly random question, "Well, she was in here a few weeks ago with a blonde haired, french witch, asking about you– but otherwise is doing well to the best of my knowledge. Though, I'm sure your aware that she's on maternity until the end of the month?"(**AN:/I know maternity leave is longer, but I'll need her later in the story, so it's only a month in the wizarding world in my story.**)"And how exactly do the two of you know each other anyway?" Harry had to laugh, "Funny you should ask, it's because of the Order of the Phoenix, Madame. We had at least 3 known aurors in that group– I won't say who though, because betraying confidences, even to one such as yourself, is obviously a bad move. Now, I would like to know the answer to my request before I can depart." he said emerald eyes flashing.

**(Time Skip: One month.)**

Back at the Burrow, Fleur was going crazy with worry about Harry. She had no idea where he was and that did not sit well with her or anyone else for that matter. And with Tonks off having her baby, and Hermione visiting her parents and convincing them to go into hiding– she'd restored their memories– and Bill being at the bank, Fleur didn't have anyone to vent her worries to.

Well there was the other Weasleys but Fred and George were at their shop, and Arthur was at the Ministry, so she didn't see the point– none of the other's actually liked her from what she could tell. Why else would they call her 'Phlegm' behind her back or when they thought she couldn't here them. She wasn't sure who was worse Ron, Ginny, or their mother. She didn't tell Bill about this of course, because she saw no reason to cause trouble in his family when after they got married she wouldn't be seeing them that often, but it did hurt to know that at least some of her future in-laws hated her.

Sighing she let her thoughts wander to Harry, and his last letter. He had said so many things that had made her feel so much. His letter had made her want to laugh, cry, scream, yell, smile, and hide her face in embarrassment all at once. She couldn't believe he'd written some of those things, especially knowing that Bill was going to be hearing them; then again nobody ever said Harry Potter didn't have the qualities of a Gryffindor. She looked out onto the misty August morning and shivered, England was definitely much colder than she was used to, mind you it was almost September. Ron and Hermione were so down that they'd have to return to Hogwarts without Harry– though Ron was still bitter about his friend leaving them behind.

Personally she found Ron more annoying than any other person in the Burrow– including Dung when he used to be there, and that was saying something. She and Tonks had looked for several days trying to find Harry, as had Minerva, Remus, Bill, Arthur, and the twins. opted to wait at the Burrow with the other children, to be there not only for them but on the off chance Harry came back– Fleur snorted, 'Yez zat will definitely 'appen, eef ze world ends!'– and Hagrid had returned to Hogwarts. And looking out the window one last time she turned and decided to make herself some tea (Although she did find England's tea rather distasteful in comparison with France's.)

Once the tea was made she sat back down and read over the two letters from Harry, focussing on the parts about her. Bill had gotten Harry's wedding gift for them out from under Harry's cot in Ron's room. They'd decided to open it ahead of time so if they ever saw him again they could thank him properly. She smiled sadly when she thought of his gift. He'd given Bill some stuff that would be useful to him(ie. Curse Breaker stuff, household items, etc.) But what he'd given her had been different and incredibly thoughtful.

It had been a detailed photo album, the covering was just plain black binding, but– as they had discovered – had been enchanted so that only people who had the permission of the owner could open it without getting seriously hexed. She chuckled darkly thinking of Ginny's foolishness. (Bat-Bogey Hex.)

Inside she had found pictures she didn't even know Harry had. One's of her and Bill, her and him(Harry)– during the Triwizard tournament as well as more recently– pictures of her and Gabrielle, pictures of her and Viktor, her and Cedric, all four of the champions together, her and Madame Maxime(she really had no idea how he'd gotten those), pictures of her and the other Weasley's, pictures of her and Roger Davis at the Yule Ball, pictures of her and her parents, her and her grandmother, her and other Beauxbatons girls, her and Hermione, her and Tonks, her and other Order Members, he'd even managed to get some of her when she'd been only 5 or 6, and then there were photos of just her; but they weren't like the other photos. They'd obviously been taken by him when she hadn't known he was taking them, they were just photos of her in day to day life. And for every photo in the nearly 150 page album, he'd written comments, and thoughts.

Some of his comments had made her laugh, and smile, some had made her blush, some had made her cry, and some had made her heart flutter at a pace that wasn't even entirely appropriate as she was engaged to marry another man. She had told Bill as much later in private, but he'd simply laughed and told her that some of Harry's comments _had_ been rather suggestive, so he couldn't blame her. Still, she felt a bit awkward about it, because now alone in the Burrow's kitchen she could still feel her heart flutter as she thought of Harry and what he'd done for her, and said to, and about her.

She thought back to when she had first really spoken to Harry during the Triwizard Tournament. _It was raining outside as Fleur, using a water repelling charm, made her way from the castle towards the carriage. Her mind was still focussed on the big blow up about the tournament that had passed in the Great Hall not twenty minutes earlier. Karkaroff had been very bitter about the fact that Hogwarts had managed to get __**two**__ champions in the tournament, even more so than Madame Maxime, who wasn't what you'd call pleased with the outcome by any means. However, Karkaroff was far more vocal in his complaints than Madame Maxime. Fleur couldn't believe the man had said all that in front of a hall of children though! Some of those terms sounded rather rude, and if the Durmstrang students' faces were any indicator, they were really rude._

_She sighed, and not only that but her own school mates had been rather annoyed that the 'Veela-cow' had received the honour of being a champion and they hadn't. But she was used to their jealousy by this point and simply ignored them. It was at this point she noticed someone was sitting on the lake's edge. Blinking to make sure she wasn't imagining things, Fleur cautiously made her way toward the hunched figure. Once she was about 4 or 5 metres away, she realized just who was sitting in the rain being soaked to the bone; it was Harry Potter. Her fellow champion, and the Boy-Who-Lived. 'Wat iz 'e doing out 'ere in zis weazer?'she wondered. It was at this moment she noticed something about him, his hand was holding something over his nose– a piece of cloth?_

_What good would a piece of fabric do him in this weather? And why was he holding it over his nose? It didn't smell bad out here, and most people would've sneezed by now if that was what he was waiting for. Taking another step forward, she cleared her throat. Harry whipped around to face her, pulling the cloth off his nose in the process; she knew why it'd been there now. Blood was dribbling out of his nose, and glancing at his nose she knew that this wasn't just a nose bleed, someone had broken Harry's nose. She also saw that his sleeve had a gash in it that revealed a couple cringe worthy cuts. _

"'_Arry?" she started. "Wat 'appened to you?" Harry blinked and replied, "What this?" his voice sounding off due to his injury, he pointed at his nose. "It's nothing, just an accident." she raised a delicate brow, "Zat does not look like an 'accident', 'Arry. Zat looks like zomeone broke your nose. And zat does not explain your arm." she pointed out. Harry sighed, and put the cloth back over his nose to stem the blood. "It's nothing, really Fleur. Why don't you get back to the carriage before you get soaked?"_

_Fleur scowled, "Eef eet iz nozing zen why are you changing ze subject, and not juste answering ze question?" Harry looked rather annoyed and huffing finally said, "Fine. You want to know how I got this way?" she nodded. "It was some other students. They aren't too happy that I'm 'trying to steal Cedric's spotlight' or whatever. So they cast a bone breaker at my face and got my nose and a couple cutters that got my arm, that's all. Happy now?" Fleur was staring at him in disbelief. "Zere are students attacking you and you are azking eef I am 'appy about eet?" Harry let out a wry chuckle. "No, I'm asking if you're any happier now that I answered your question. But if my pain makes you happy feel free to get off with everyone else."_

_Fleur couldn't believe that anyone could stoop so low as to actually curse Harry for being champion, but then again it really shouldn't surprise her that much if people reacted badly to Harry's name coming out after Cedric's already did. Especially with the age line that was supposed to prevent underage students from entering. "I am not 'appy zat you are injured 'Arry. Zat iz, 'ow you say, "zick and wrong"? I am 'appy zat you answered my questions, but I 'ave one or two more. Why are you out 'ere in ze rain wizout anyzing ozer zen your school robes on? And why did you not go to ze school 'ealer for your wounds?"_

_Harry laughed, "You are right about it being a bit sick and wrong to get off on someone else's pain of course, and I'll take comfort in the fact that you don't get off on mine."he said cheekily. "And I didn't go to Madame Pomfrey because she always makes people stay in the HW for long as she possibly can, and I hate it in there. Not a fan of hospitals in general, actually." Fleur huffed, "Zen you can come wiz me to zee ze 'ealer in ze carriage. And zat still doesn't explain why you are out 'ere alone, at night, in ze rain, wiz only your uniform on, and no spells to block ze rain."_

_Harry sighed, "Fine, I guess I can go to the carriage, provided no one will attack me?" Fleur nodded her head in comprehension and to say, 'No one's going to attack you, so your going.' And Harry continued, "And I'm out here, because I got thrown out of my dorm. The only person in my dorm not pissed at me is Neville and well, he's not exactly up for stopping Ron, Seamus and Dean from giving me the boot. So here I am, outside to avoid being caught out after hours, and I have nothing available to me except my robes I'm already wearing, and my wand; and I don't know any spells to repel rain." Fleur couldn't help but stare._

"_You were zrown out of your own dorm, because you are one of ze 'Ogwarts champions?" she demanded. The disbelief of the situation evident in her voice. Harry merely laughed, "Don't worry I've had worse. So, if I must go to the carriage to get my nose and arm fixed, let's get it over with. Then I can come out here and try to find someplace that's at least sort of dry to crash for the night." "You will do no zuch zing!" Fleur snapped. "You are going to stay in ze carriage for ze night, or until we can fix your problème." Harry blinked once, twice, three times. And before he could even begin to sputter out some form of defiance, Fleur and grabbed his uninjured arm and was dragging him to the carriage._

Looking back at it now Fleur realized that it was actually a rather sad night. It had been gloomy and depressing because of the weather and then there was Harry out in the rain, and cold, soaked through, nose broken, arm bleeding, shivering, and she later learned hungry, trying to make it through the night without costing his house any points or alerting any teachers to his presence or injuries. She'd convinced Madame Maxime to let Harry spend the night in the carriage easy enough. It had been startling to hear her Headmistress blatantly swear upon talking to Beauxbatons healer– Madame Poesy. That was actually how Fleur found out just how much Harry had suffered, just how much he'd gone through and still turned out his loving caring self.

Actually now that she thought about it she still needed to have some words with the three of four dormmates that had chucked Harry out for what ended up being three days just because his name had come out of the Goblet. It had been funny though, to see Harry sleeping on the couch in the foyer of the carriage. (He'd refused to take someone's bed, even though they'd tried to tell him it was no trouble to transfigure a couch into a bed or a chair or something but he wouldn't hear of it.) He'd slept there the first night and then the next day when he'd tried to get into his dorm to get some clean clothes and his books for the day, he found that they'd chucked his stuff into the common room in a random corner.

Fleur had been outraged by the disgusting behaviour being displayed by those three, and she hadn't been the only one. Harry may have been able to beg Madame Maxime not to tell any of the Hogwarts professors for the first three days, but when even the third day he came back to the carriage injured, beaten, bleeding, and had his clothes torn to pieces by the various cutting and slicing hexes and jinxes he'd barely avoided, and he smelled of rotten food that people had taken to steeling from the kitchen and throwing at him, Madame Maxime went to his Head of House.

Now Fleur could laugh about the sight of the Hogwarts students being thoroughly cowed by Minerva McGonagall, but at the time it had been damn scary to watch. Fleur had made a very important mental note not to get on McGonagall's bad side, because she could be terrifying when she wanted to be-although Fleur could be too. She laughed to herself wondering what Harry would've said if he'd seen her transform into her Veela form and throw huge fire balls at some bolder to get out her anger at what was being done to Harry. She frowned a bit as she wondered whether Harry would still like her if he'd ever actually _seen_ her Veela form instead of just being aware she was part Veela.

Then she shook herself, she was being ridiculous. Harry had seen Remus in his werewolf form before and clearly still loved the man, and if he could be friends with a werewolf why not a Veela? (She didn't have anything against Remus, of course, but she did think that a transformed werewolf was more scary than a transformed Veela depending on the circumstances that is.) She took a slow sip of her tea, and glanced at the time.

2:37. Still a good while before anyone got here, and not nearly early enough to start making dinner or some such thing. She was about to just go for a walk around the inside of the wards when she heard it. A faint hoot coming from the closed window. Turning her head she saw a Great Horned owl sitting perched on the windowsill. Quickly opening the window, she let the bird in. It flew to the table beside her tea and extended it's leg. Fleur untied the parchment quickly and gave the owl a couple treats before gesturing to the owl perch in the far corner of the kitchen.

After taking care of the owl, she looked at the envelope which it had delivered. There in scarlet ink she saw her name written– in Harry's writing! Frantically tearing the envelope open, she sat down and began to read:

_Dear Fleur,_

_By now I assume that you have already been party to reading the other letters? If not put this down and go read them. But assuming you have I will continue this one, Fleur first and foremost thank-you for being my friend and for everything you've done for me. I always have and will appreciate it until the end of my days. I know that it sounds kinda cheesy, but it's true. Hermione and Ron have both been good friends to me ever since I started Hogwarts, well most of the time anyway, but it was different from the friendship I formed with you. Even though we were supposed to be rivals you were still so kind to me, from that first night when you found me out in the rain, with my broken nose, and slashed arm._

_I don't know exactly why, but I do know that I needed to write you on your own. I don't know whether you will choose to share this with the others, but for me this is, I guess closure. Since I am going to die, and I hope you won't waste your life sheading tears over my death, I need you to know that I am so, so happy I got the chance to meet you, and to get to know you. I hope Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and stop being such bigoted prats to you, after all there son is a very lucky man to have won your heart, and open themselves to seeing the wonderful person you are and not just see you for your Veela heritage. Believe me, if I heard a foul comment out of them, I got revenge. Hexes, helping Gred and Forge with pranks on them, conveniently misplacing things they needed later, the usual._

_I know it's not the best solution, but I can't make them like you, even if I wish I could. I know you'll want an update on what's happening with me, well for the Horcrux hunt I've found one, Fleur! I had a bit of help getting it, from an unmentionable source, and got Salazar Slytherin's locket. I don't know how I will destroy it yet, but that's 2 destroyed, 4 found total, and 3 to go. So I say bravo for me. Now, if I had to guess you're probably both hurt and angry with me at the moment, but I know enough about you to know you're also worried. And I know that your worry has merit, so I won't waste my paper trying to tell you not to, but I will say this much. I am safe for now, I have a few people that I've had very brief contact with, who are helping me to get the rest of the horcruxes. So, try not to waste all the time you should be spending with Bill worrying about me._

_I hope this letter finds you well, Fleur. And I hope that you'll ignore all the horrible things that people assume about you and your people. Love Bill and live happily together, you both deserve happiness in life and I hope you find it. I must go now, but I swear I will write you again soon._

_Love always,_

_Harry._

Fleur stared at the parchment in her hand. Tears fell from her eyes, but she couldn't be bothered stopping them. Not after reading Harry's letter. The ending in particular was catching her attention. He had signed this one so differently than the others. No formal titles, or puns on them, just Harry. She remembered him telling her that was all he'd ever wanted to be, just Harry. Not The-Boy-Who-Lived, or Harry Potter, youngest seeker in a century. Just Harry. She smiled sadly at that. Harry hadn't ever gotten to be just Harry. Not really anyway. Even with his friends he was still famous, and they still saw him as a hero sometimes. From what she'd seen, Hermione was better about seeing him as just Harry than Ron, but even the young witch could sometimes forget how Harry was the same as any other boy, only he had a scar on his head, fame he didn't want, and a heart bigger than any other.

Fleur didn't know why but even though she _was_ terrified for Harry and his safety, not to mention being beyond horrified at the fact he had to _die_ for this war to be won, somehow his words calmed her in a way she couldn't remember being calmed before. Yet, at the same time, she felt her heart aching to be near him and know he was safe. "Merde, 'Arry. Pourquoi as-tu besoin de parti?"(*In English* "Shit, Harry. Why did you have to leave.") she asked the empty room, not even realizing she'd turned back to her native tongue. Closing her eyes, Fleur drew a shuddering breath inwards and reread the letter, before making a mental list of everything she'd learned from it.

_1)Harry was safe. 2)Harry was still pissed at the Weasleys(Molly, Ron, and Ginny) treatment of her, as well as Hermione's.3) He was still thanking her for something that happened almost 2 years ago. 4) He'd found another Horcrux. % 5)He'd gotten help getting it. 6)He didn't know how to destroy this one yet. 7)He had a few people helping him out_– 'Which is only mildly reassuring.', Fleur thought– _8)He was still wishing her and Bill well. 9)He said he was going to write her again soon. 10)He was still goofing around and telling jokes to try to make her feel better._

Looking back over her thoughts, Fleur realized something. "'Arry 'az been wishing Bille and me well since ze first letter...eet iz a bit zuzpiciouz...almost like 'e iz nervous...non more like 'appy but alzo very zad zat zis 'as 'appened..."she trailed off, a thought striking her like the scar on Harry's forehead. "'Arry can't...non, I mean 'e, 'e would 'ave told me eef 'e waz..." and that's when she realized something both very exciting and truly terrifying. Harry Potter was in love with her, Fleur Delacour.

**AN:/So, did you like it? Did you hate it? Was it just okay? Is this story going in a really weird direction? Did it make more sense/ was it easier to understand than the last chapter? Any questions, comments, concerns, ideas, flames, whatever feel free to put in a review or PM– as always all are appreciated. (Alliteration much?) All favourites, reviews, PM's, alerts and anything else are appreciated and taken into consideration when I do my works, so if you have an idea, tell me. Even if I don't end up using it, or I can't/don't get back to you or respond, I read all the reviews I get.**

**Next time: Fleur comes to terms with the fact that Harry loves her– even if he never outright said it. Harry continues on his Horcrux hunt! Who else besides Amelia is helping Harry? The others return to Hogwarts! And who knows what else– okay I might, but I'm not telling you now :P**

**~GGUC**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:/ Hello again everyone. Yes, I am well aware this chapter took far longer than it should have to arrive, and no, I do not have a good reason for it. Nobody died, or got sick, or injured, I still have all my limbs firmly attached to my body, I didn't go away for an extensive period of time(it was only like a week) and no I didn't get a serious case of writer's block. (Although there were a few minor instances). Nope, the main reason this took so long was me getting distracted by other things, which I really can't do much about so I'm sorry for your luck. Anyway, enough about that, this chapter will hopefully do better with the whole names not being where I typed them issue, and hopefully my french is better than last time, yes I'm talking to those of you who were kind enough to critique my french-keep it up please-you know who you are.** **Well, enough of my rambling, on with the chapter!**

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT, have NOT, and will NEVER own Harry Potter, that's J K Rowling's job.**_

Harry looked out into the darkness that surrounded him. There was fog rolling around as thick as pea soup, so he couldn't see very far in any direction around him. And that, was quite frankly, unnerving when you had a whole brigade of Death Munchers, Mouldy-shorts, and who knew what else after you.

He sighed quietly gazing at the sky, the drizzle splattering lightly against his glasses. 'Who knew it could be so hard to find these damn horcruxes.' he mused.

'Fucking Mouldy-shorts...why couldn't you make this easier.' he sighed as he glanced at the address written on the scrap of parchment in his hand. Amelia had given in to him, telling him to tell the woman that she had sent him...and to say the "code word", aka Monocle. Personally he thought it was a strange choice of code word, but thinking about some of the Gryffindor passwords like Pig Snout...it wasn't so bad after all.

He was going to see Emmeline Vance, an Unspeakable...he was understandably a bit wary of any members of the Ministry, particularly those who worked in the Department of Mysteries; but he trusted Amelia's judgement. After all, she'd managed to secure him Salazar's locket– from Umbitch no less– which just made it that much sweeter. Not to mention Emmeline was a member of the Order, so that gave him just a little more faith as well. And now, here he was, in Muggle London, outside what looked like a typical suburban home– though he knew no Muggles could see it due to the Fidelius Charm protecting it. Hell, he was probably the only person on the street to be able to see it, so as inconspicuously as he could, he knocked on the front door.

While on his way here, Harry had done a lot of reflecting on some important conversations he'd had with Amelia. Such as the one where he'd asked a question that had largely changed his perspective on not only Tom Riddle Jr. but the whole damn war.

_He was sitting in Amelia's living room, as they'd agreed meeting in the Ministry was not the ideal plan by any means, and Susan was spending the majority of the summer at Hannah Abbott's. Amelia's house elf, Trixie, had brought them some tea and biscuits for their conversation. _

_Amelia had done some snooping and seemed to believe she may have found one of the Horcruxes Harry was so desperately searching for. They had been discussing it for the past hour or so, when suddenly, Harry remembered a question he'd been meaning to get an answer to for quite some time._

"_Amelia, sorry to change the subject so suddenly, but I have a question I was hoping you could answer." she raised a brow at this. "What kind of question?" _

_He shifted a little in his seat before looking Amelia straight in the eyes and asked, "What happens when Voldemort is defeated? Does another Dark Lord just come in the next couple generations? Is that it? One major Dark Lord to lead all the dark families and terrorize the general wizarding public per generation?"_

_Amelia closed her eyes and sighed quietly. "Unfortunately," she began. "That is very much the truth of the matter, Harry. Once You-Know– oh, alright...Voldemort" she winced a bit, still having trouble speaking the name of the thing that took her brother and his wife from her and Susan. _

"_Is defeated, there will be probably anywhere between 15 and 45 years of peace before a new Dark Lord rises from the embers of the last one. In a way they, the Dark Lords, are very much like an antagonistic version of a phoenix. When they quote, die, they are typically not truly dead the first time; they will be reborn in their own ashes. After they are truly dead, then the next Dark Lord will merely rise from the embers one of their presiders created."_

_Harry scowled at this. "Then in a way, there is no point to defeating Voldemort. All it will do is bide time for whoever is unfortunate enough to be stuck with the duty of defeating the next Dark Lord...which, given my luck, could very well be me__** again**__." Amelia laughed a little at this, though it was a rather strained one. "Yes...I suppose your past history __**would**__ indicate that you may be defeating Dark Lords until your death." _

That's where their conversation had taken a bit of a lull, and then just changed entirely, but now Harry figured if he was going to be speaking to an Unspeakable he may as well ask ahead of time about any other prophecies containing his name. However, before he could contemplate further, the door opened and a woman's eyes peered out, "Password?" she enquired. Suppressing a smirk, Harry answered quietly, "Monocle." the door opened fully and he stepped inside, taking care to close it quickly behind him.

Emmeline was a stately woman, her robes were, much like when he had met her in the summer of his fifth year briefly, emerald green. She spoke then, her voice alight with anxiety, "You weren't seen? Or followed?" she rattled off quickly.

He shook his head, "I took a couple double-backs, and extra loops on the off chance anyone was trying to follow me anyway." she nodded and ushered him into a sitting room.

It was clean– not "Dursley clean", thank Merlin–but clean in the sense that it looked relatively unused. There were two armchairs, both blue, and a matching chesterfield, the ceiling light; hanging in the middle of the room; cast eerie shadows in the far corners. The walls were the same deep blue as the furniture, and 4 oak coffee tables were positioned around the room. There were two steaming mugs, of what Harry assumed to be tea, sitting on the farthest one with a plate of pumpkin pastries beside it.

He turned back to Emmeline, whose chestnut locks were falling gently across her face, and asked, " – " "Emmeline, please." she cut in.

He nodded and continued, "Er, right. Emmeline, did tell you why I'm here?" she nodded, "Yes something about horcruxes– that's very dark business , I _do_ hope you know what kind of forces you're meddling in." she added.

He nodded, "If I'm going to call you Emmeline you can call me Harry, please." he noted before continuing. "And yes, I am well aware the darkness and horrors that are involved in horcruxes. But I'm not looking to make any or anything, more of the opposite really, I, er, well I'm trying to find Vol– " "Shh! Merlin, boy! Do you want You-Know-Who to descend this very minute?" Harry had the decency to be embarrassed. Amelia had warned him that Voldemort's name was now a taboo, so if he said it then they would indeed be found.

It _was_ very hard not to say it though when he was so used to saying it. "Right, sorry Emmeline I keep forgetting it's taboo now. But what I'm looking to do is find Tom's horcruxes–"

"Tom? Who's Tom?" She asked in confusion. Harry blinked before mentally slapping himself, 'Of course she doesn't know Voldemort's birth given name you half wit!' he berated himself mentally.

Answering her question he stated simply, "You-Know-Who's birth given name. I hate calling him something that makes it sound as though I fear him so, I've decided to use his birth name to display my lack of respect or fear of him." Emmeline looked at him as if he were mad– which, he reminded himself, from her point of view he probably was.

'Oh well,' he thought. 'Such is the life of the so called Chosen One. Seriously, what is it with my luck and making my life suck?' he wondered before speaking. "Look, I know that must sound crazy to you, and I guess it would to most of the Wizarding World, and if they knew about it the Muggles too."

She nodded which caused Harry to have to hold back a snort of laughter. "But, I _need_ allies in this war if I want to win, and before I can count you as one, I need you to swear to me on your magic that no matter what you will _not_ tell anyone in the Order about where I am." Emmeline's eyes widened in an almost comical fashion.

Harry took a deep breath and pressed on. "Look, I know that you'll want to. I know that if they had any inkling that you knew where I was they would drive you nuts tying to get you to talk. Be that as it may though, for their own safety as well as mine and your own, they can't know. I know that at the very least Fleur, Tonks, Hermione, the twins, and Remus would all come for me, and that alone puts them in too much danger. Especially given that, if my information from Amelia was correct, Tonks and Remus have a son now." Emmeline nodded, "They called him Teddy." 'And they want you as the godfather.' she mentally added, not wanting to ask the raven haired young man in front of her the question that Remus or Tonks should.

Harry nodded deftly, 'Teddy Lupin...I like it.' he mused. Continuing on he said, "Do I have your oath, Emmeline?" she nodded slowly. "I, Emmeline Vance, swear on my life and magic to aid Harry Potter to the best of my abilities in whatever way I can in his hunt to destroy You-Know-Who's"

Harry scowled slightly at the lack of use of Voldemort's name. "Horcruxes. I also swear on my life and magic to keep my work with him, his location and any information I have or gain pertaining to him secret from the members of the Order of the Phoenix and the public. So mote it be." There was a flash of white light, and since she was still standing Harry decided to get down to business. "Tell me, Emmeline, how much do you know about the diadem of Ravenclaw..."

Back at the Burrow Fleur was trying her hardest not to collapse on the floor and start hyperventilating. '_Comment est-ce que...? Mais, il ne j'amais me donner l'impresionne qu'il...Pourquoi est-ce que je n'a pas vu?_' (*English* How could...? But he never gave me the impression he...Why didn't I ever notice this?).

Finally Fleur just swore, before trying to get control of her thoughts, not to mention the sudden roaring flame in her Veela instincts. "'Ow could 'Arry love me...'e az never zaid anyzing zat would give me ze idea zat 'e 'ad feelings like zat for me...Maybe I am juste imagining zis. Oui, zat could be eet...but eef zat iz eet, zen why am I zinking eet iz like zat? I can't, I mean I don't 'ave feelings for 'Arry like zat...do I?" Fleur asked the kitchen. Hearing only silence in return, she began to pace, trying to gather her thoughts.

Fleur had, of course, flirted with Harry before, and he in turn had flirted with her. Despite that though, Fleur had always thought they were just teasing each other as friends and had never given the matter much thought. She didn't flirt much to begin with, and certainly not with most of her other friends...not that she had many– especially male– due to her heritage. And Harry hadn't ever really flirted much with his other friends...well, Tonks and Hermione occasionally, 'But he did actually gone on a couple of dates with each of them.' she thought bitterly.

Fleur blinked, "I'm not jealouz of Tonks and 'Ermionee for dating 'Arry at zome point in zere lives...am I?" she couldn't believe some of the thoughts that were going through her head right now. Fleur could feel jealousy for Tonks and Hermione stirring in her, ache to see Harry, to hear his voice, to feel his hand in her own like when they were at Hogwarts, to see those beautiful eyes– "Wait...wat?"

Fleur wondered why all these thoughts about Harry and everything she lik– no, _loved_ about him were coming from. This had never happened before, nor had she ever heard of anyone else who'd experienced any similar problems. She seriously hoped this wasn't some kind of unknown Veela gene...but as far as she knew, her heritage had nothing to do with this.

No, this was all her. '_Moi et mon propre pense stupide à propos d'un garçon qui je ne même pas savoir si il m'aime. Pas seulement ça, mais il n'est pas le garçon que je suis supposé de ce marié_.' (*English* Me and my stupid thoughts about a guy I don't even know if he likes me. Not only that, but he's not the guy I'm the guy I'm supposed to be marrying).

This was going to cause some major problems for her later, she could feel it in her core and in her heart. Fleur sighed, and tried to stop the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. It was, of course, a futile effort. They were already sliding slowly down her elegant face, leaving salty tracks in their wake. Fleur dreaded the moment she knew would come; the moment when she'd need to speak to Bill about this. These feelings that coursed through her when she thought of Harry, when she realized that her raven-haired friend may indeed love her as far more than just a friend.

This was doomed to cause even more of a rift between her and the rest of the Weasley family. Fleur had observed first hand how attached Molly, Ginny, and the rest of the Weasleys were to Harry. If they found out that Harry may be in love with her, thus probably hurting Bill, and damaging not only her but Harry's relationship with their eldest son, and subsequently family, they would undoubtedly blame her. Whether they'd blame her for her Veela abilities, or just because they didn't want to blame Harry was yet to be seen; however, there was not a doubt in her mind that they _would_ blame her.

_Fleur was walking around the outside of the Burrow during the summer before Harry's 6__th__ year at Hogwarts. Harry had only just arrived three nights ago and, logically, had brought_ _a great deal of noise and emotions with him. The Weasley children, particularly Ron and Ginny as well as their mother, seemed to have a particular interest in making sure Harry was never alone with her. Even for a minute._

_They seemed determined to keep Harry from spending time alone with any female who wasn't Ginny or , actually. And truthfully it made Fleur more than a little uneasy. What did it matter if Harry was alone with her, or Hermione, or Tonks, or whoever else? That was what she had been thinking of when a thought struck her, and a rather unpleasant one at that._

_It wasn't that they wanted Harry away from women in general, it was that they wanted him near Ginny and away from any more attractive women, who were near enough his age to be any type of romantic interest to him. This was more than enough to unnerve Fleur. Just how far would the Weasley women go to get Harry to fall for Ginny? Was this a plan they had been working on for a while? Was Ron or Hermione aware of it? What about the twins? Arthur? Percy? Charlie? Dare she think it, __**Bill**__?_

_All of these question ran through Fleur's head in the seconds following her realization, and then she wondered something else. Something entirely more frightening; what was she going to say to Harry? Then, as if he had heard her thoughts, Harry walked around the corner and almost ran straight into her. "Oh, hullo Fleur. I didn't see you there." he said, though he didn't look even slightly surprised. _

"'_Ello, 'Arry." she greeted. "Zorry, I didn't realize zere waz aneeone coming."He just chuckled. "Don't worry about it. Hey, I haven't really gotten a chance to just hang out with you in ages, so– if you're not doing anything– do you wanna go for a stroll or something?" he asked._

_Fleur blinked, this was unexpected, but pleased her none the less. "Of course 'Arry! I 'ave been wanting to talk to you for a w'ile now." Harry grinned a little at that, "Lead the way then." he said, gesturing with his arm._

_Fleur nodded and began to walk outside, but she caught Molly Weasley eyeing them suspiciously, and turned sharply towards the other door. Fleur was by no means a coward; however, she drew the line at confronting someone on something she wasn't even sure was true. Not to mention Molly Weasley __**did**__ resemble a saber tooth tiger when angry. Which was definitely an unflattering trait the woman had, it agitated Fleur to no end how quick Molly was to loose her temper and start yelling._

_Most people didn't realize that, as a part Veela, Fleur's hearing was far more sensitive than average. Thus, Molly's yelling all the time did nothing but make her ears ring painfully, and a massive headache follow. It was definitely the thing Fleur hated most about the Weasley family, most of them seemed very quick to anger, or they just had a love for lots of noise– like the twins. She'd never heard them yell in all the time she'd seen them this summer, but they were always relatively loud unless they were pranking someone. In which case a lot of noise followed afterwards. _

_So, Fleur lead Harry to a far door outside, which confused him a little, but he shrugged it off as unimportant. After about 10 minutes of walking in silence, they had reached a field that Fleur was content with its distance from the Burrow. Turning to Harry she motioned to a lone tree in the middle of the field and spoke, "Do you want to rest under ze tree, 'Arry?"_

_Harry smiled a bit, "Sure, you know how much I love sitting under trees." he said in good humour. Fleur felt bad that telling him her speculations would ruin this good mood. _

_They approached the tree and Fleur could see that Harry was in his own world at the moment, blissfully unaware of his surroundings as his mind travelled to its own world. Despite this though, Fleur knew better than to think Harry was having some typical male related thoughts to do with sex, girls, firewhisky and who knew what else. During the time she had known him, Fleur had quickly come to realize Harry was unlike any male she'd ever met. He would dream of things no 14 year old should have to dream of during the tournament, and when his eyes glazed over and he receded into his own thoughts, it was not out of lust but out of either fear, or anger. _

_Harry was not one to let his emotions get the better of him if he could help it. It had taken Fleur __**ages**__ to get him to even mention any sort of 'family' he was living with. Fleur hardly considered them his family though, knowing what she did now about them. _

_As Harry came out of his thoughts Fleur asked quietly, "Eez zomething wrong, 'Arry?" the man in question blinked owlishly, "No, I'm fine." he responded. Fleur hated that he always said he was fine. She knew perfectly well he was __**not**__ 'fine'._

_Ignoring that for the time being she questioned, "'Ow az your zummer been, 'Arry?" he gave her a look that clearly said, '__**Seriously**__ you're asking THAT of all things?' But he simply said, "The usual." which meant, the Dursleys were awful and he hated every moment he was in their presence. Wonderful._

_Silence fell for several moments before she asked, "Are you zeeing anyone now, 'Arry?" he blinked owlishly at her. "Er, no. Tonks and I went out for a while...but her heart didn't belong to me. I know that she loves Lupin, and he loves her to– even if the idiot __**is **__too stubborn about his 'condition' to admit it. They both deserve each others love, though, and I hope that Lupin finally gets his head out of his arse and agrees to go out with her. It would make everything so much better...for both of them."_

_Fleur smiled at him. She knew that he was being honest when he said he felt they deserved each others love. Harry wasn't bitter or angry or spiteful to either Tonks or Lupin because not only did he care about both of them, but even if it was Tonks wanting to date some other auror or Lupin with some random witch he'd never met, Harry cared enough about both of them to just want their happiness. He had loved Tonks enough to let her go._

"_That eez very sweet of you, 'Arry." she paused. "Does Tonks know 'ow much you loved 'er?" she had been nervous to ask this because in many ways she was afraid that he may react badly to such questioning. She was pleasantly surprised; however, when he smiled sadly and shook his head._

"_I never told her how much I love her...I doubt I ever will. I did tell her that I was letting her go, and that she needs to follow her heart though. But...I dunno, I just can't. I can't tell Tonks everything I've ever felt for her, or how much a part of me wishes I could be the one, perfect for her y'know? I guess I just want whatever she wants for her...Makes me wonder how Voldemort could think I'm like him. He wouldn't give a damn if one of his people didn't want something, or wanted something...he just wants for himself..." Harry trailed off, again obtaining a slightly lost look in his eyes._

_Fleur couldn't help but feel astounded by how much Harry felt. This young man, who had been through so much, and gotten so hurt...and here he was saying how he wanted only what Tonks wanted for herself. Even despite his own feelings for her. Fleur knew that Harry was selfless, anyone who didn't obviously didn't know him at all, but this seemed so extreme to her, even for him. Yet, she didn't know why._

_Dismissing those thoughts for the moment she pressed onwards. "'Arry...'ave you noticed and Ginny 'ave been..." she trailed off, again unsure how to ask this question._

"_Clingy? Smothering? Overbearing? Suffocating my personal space and keeping me from being alone with any female that's not them?" Harry asked, a grim smile adorning his features. Fleur felt her jaw slacken in shock at his knowledge of the situation. "You already know..? W'at they 'ave been doing?" she questioned, still shocked._

_Harry nodded. "I don't know why, but has always been fixated on having 'One Big Happy Weasley Family'. Which means she wants Hermione and Ron together, and me and Ginny together." he groaned rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Except, and Ginny don't seem to realize that while I like Ginny, I don't like her in any kind of romantic way. She's always just been Ron's little sister...and I doubt that's going to change any time soon unless I swallow so love potion." he laughed bitterly. Fleur thought it didn't suit him._

_Closing her eyes to gather her thoughts, Fleur spoke gently, "'Arry, I am sure zat zey would underztand eef you told zem zat you aren't interested een Ginny." she cautiously glanced at him to see his reaction, and saw a frown marring his features._

"_I doubt it, Fleur." he said, blowing out a breath in exasperation. "Ginny especially seems hell bent on making me love her...I don't know what to do Fleur. I can't trust the people who I thought of as family, even though I want to. I want to believe that they would never do something to make me love someone, but I can't stop the nagging feeling in the back of my head that maybe they would...Not all of them, of course. Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, ...I don't have a doubt in my mind that they'd never do anything like that...but Ron, Ginny and I'm not so sure. I'm sure you've noticed trying to make Bill notice Tonks?" he asked._

_Fleur winced, but nodded. She certainly __**had**__ noticed! Tonks, Bill and she had all talked though, so that they were all clear that it was just 's interfering. That did not; however, make it any less hurtful to Fleur to know how much disapproved of her as a possible wife for Bill._

_Harry seemed to sense her thoughts because he reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and spoke, "Don't you dare keep going on that train of thought, Fleur. You are going to make a brilliant wife, and if you choose later, mother. Bill is lucky to have you." he smiled at her and added cheekily, "And besides, I'm sure you do wonders for his...unresolved temper." at the look on her face, Harry burst out laughing. _

Fleur closed her eyes as tears pricked her eyes once more at the memory...she knew that Molly and Ginny had somehow blamed her for Harry not noticing Ginny. Even though they blamed Tonks and Hermione some too, it was mostly her. And she hated it.

Hated that Harry was gone. Hated that she couldn't talk to him about what she thought his feelings might be. Hated that she was blamed for so many things by the Weasley family.Hated that Harry wasn't there. That she couldn't go to him anymore because she didn't even know where he was. She was lost, and for the first time in nearly 3 years, she had no one to run to.

She couldn't go to Bill with this; it would only hurt him to know that his youngest brother's best friend may have feelings for his fiancee. She couldn't go to Tonks with this; while her friend may understand what she was feeling, Tonks was in the midst of having her first child. There was no way Fleur was going to add this to her plate. She couldn't go to her family, because that would result in even more questioning of her choice to marry Bill. And she could no more go to Harry than she could find the lost treasures of the world.

For the first time since before she met Harry, Fleur felt utterly and completely alone. It was an awful, gut-wrenching feeling, that made her want to hurl, cry, scream, and just curl into herself all at the same time. She wouldn't though. If only for the sake that she knew that's not what Harry would have wanted her to do, then she wouldn't. Somehow she would make it through this.

"Zome day...'Arry, I 'ope you realize wat you 'ave done. Wat zis could mean...I 'ope you realize zat you should 'ave told me eef you 'ad feelings for me before now. Eef you even do..." Fleur whispered to the empty room like a leaf floating across a breeze.

Unbeknownst to Fleur, some of her Veela magic had tied into her voice as she spoke, and hundreds of miles away a young Harry Potter could swear he heard a voice that sounded like Fleur's tickling his ear. His head snapping to the right at the sound, he whirled around looking for the source of the muffled sound. "Impossible," he muttered. "Get a grip Potter. Fleur is not here, she isn't speaking to you, or thinking about you. Fleur doesn't see you like that, and she never will. You need to stay focussed here Potter, or else you'll die earlier than you should."

Those thoughts in mind, he turned back to the forest he was currently in. Emmeline had directed him here, stating that she'd heard murmurs among the unspeakables that there was some type of strong, magical signature pulsing from the area. Unfortunately, Emmeline did not know whether it was a light or dark magical signature. So, while it could be a horcrux, it could also just be an exceptionally old unicorn.

Looking around he saw nothing to show signs of a unicorn, but also didn't feel the searing pain in his scar that was associated with horcruxes. Which begged the question, just what was here then? Harry was debating whether or not it was worth looking around when a bright, white light shot out of the end of his wand, and formed a familiar shape. "Prongs." he breathed, taking in the form of his patronus.

The stag acknowledged him with a nod of its head before walking towards something. Not knowing what else to do, Harry followed. The stag walked right onto the middle of a frozen pond before promptly vanishing. Harry gazed warily at the spot before deciding to stand on it and see what happened. A violent cracking noise erupted from below him causing Harry to stiffen, but the ice remained in tact 'For now.' Harry mused grimly.

That's when he saw it; a glimmer of silver at the bottom of the pond. Kneeling atop the glassy surface, he peered into the darkening depths and gasped. There, in the bottom of this obscure pond, was the sword of Gryffindor. "What in the name of Merlin is this doing _here_?" he wondered aloud.

Despite being more than a little shocked to find the sword in this seemingly random forest, Harry felt a distinct tug in his instincts shouting at him to go retrieve the sword. So, without any further thought, he pulled the vast majority of his clothing off, and murmured _Diffindo_, lazily pointing his wand at the ice so as not to explode the whole surface.

Gazing into the hole in the surface Harry took a deep, steadying breath, and plunged. The frigid water surrounded his entire body and cursing himself for not doing it faster, Harry performed the bubble-head charm Fleur had taught him after the second task. (Well it wasn't like she could've just given him _her_ strategy!) And down he swam.

His feet hit the sloppy bottom, the muck and leaves on the surface began stirring around when his feet touched it. When he reached for the sword; however, there was a sharp jerk against his neck that caused him to gag. The locket was fighting him, trying to get him away from the sword. Swearing profusely in his mind, Harry tried to swim back towards the sword against the violent jerking and pulling on his neck.

Harry felt his body thrash against the under side of the ice; to thick for his form to break through, it was like being repeatedly smashed into the barrier between stations 9 and 10 to get onto the Hogwarts express. His hands reached up to claw at the chain holding the locket to his person, Harry knew if it weren't for the still-intact bubble head charm, he would've drowned by now. Despite the charm though, the thrashing locket was making him gasp for breath, he could feel himself fighting to stay conscious as he ripped at the chain. And suddenly he heard a scream before his world started to go black.

**AN:/ So, was the french any better? Was there enough of an even split between Fleur and Harry's perspectives– probably not. Please feel free to comment, review, flame, whatever the hell you want to call it. And remember all alerts, favourites, PM's, reviews, etc are regarded and appreciated. (Cause seriously, as awesome as it would be if I could, I can't actually tell what you people are thinking. Strangely enough I'm not telepathic...weird thing that.)**

**Next Time: Will Fleur confront the sabertooth known as Molly Weasley about her treatment of her? How the hell will Harry get out of this one? What about Hermione and Tonks– When do we get to hear about their pasts with Harry in a more 'romantic' light? (Probably in the next chapter if the author gets off their ass and types it). **

**~GGUC **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:/ Hello avid readers and newer, less avid readers of Harry Potter and the Day it All Changed! So, now that the ridiculously cheery greeting is out of the way, I'll get on to the usual explaining my prolonged time between posting chapters, and then a lead in to the chapter: aren't you glad you bother to take the time to read it (I know I am, and because I'm writing this my vote counts for more in this one case).**

**Anyway, I forget if I've mentioned it to you guys before, but I will be slower getting updates out this year due to my enrollment in the IB program. For any of you who have been/are in it, I'd love to here from you; for those of you with no idea what the hell IB is, feel free to Google it or send me random questions on it. Anyway, this entry is hopefully of apt length with minimal spelling/grammar errors( knowing me there are definitely some and I take full responsibility for all of them). **

**So, I hope you enjoy this instalment of my cheesily romantic version of the Deathly Hallows cause, in my opinion, the actual version didn't end that great. (For those of you that agree that Harry/Ginny was a stupid idea or Ron/Hermione for that matter feel free to PM me, I will gladly rant with you. And for those of you going, hold the phone, in your first damn chapter you put "**_That goes for Ron to when he realizes he's in love with Hermione_**" all I will say is wait and see, but trust me, I refuse to write a Ron/Hermione fic. To those who like them, I have nothing against you or your love of them or Harry/Ginny, or whatever; this is MY OPINION ONLY, so a refraining from flaming on that matter would be appreciated, but if you must rant, I get that). So, enough of this shit, on with the chapter!**

_**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter or its characters, settings, creatures, etc, etc; if I did things would have gone differently and I'd be far richer than I am now.**_

**(Inside Harry's Mind)**

_Harry was in his fourth year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and currently the second Hogwarts champion in the Triwizard Tournament, along with being the-Boy-Who-Lived. Needless to say, he was a well known young man amongst the many students from the various schools currently gathered at Hogwarts. _

_It was a cold February morning, the snow piled up high, and the frigid Scotland winds blowing gently over the grounds. The Beauxbatons students could constantly be found shivering somewhere or another, whilst the Durmstrang students seemed to be enjoying the 'warmth' in comparison to the even more ice-age-like temperatures of their own school...wherever __**that**__ was._

_Harry happened to be out sitting in 'his spot' underneath a lone tree on the edge of the Black Lake. Only a few weeks earlier the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament had occurred in the very lake that he was gazing out over. Harry internally shuddered at the memories of seeing the hostages just floating there, unmoving, unbreathing, seemingly lifeless. _

_That was what was troubling Harry at the moment– the hostages. He knew in his mind, now, that there hadn't been any danger for the hostages... But somehow he still felt rather disgusted at the use of real people, for the sake of a tournament that they weren't even bloody registered to participate in! Not to mention that they had opted to use Gabrielle– Fleur's younger sister– who was maybe 9, at most! This was NOT something Harry thought that children too young to even attend Hogwarts should be made to participate in or view in __**any**__ capacity._

_Another thing that troubled him though, was that Ron had been his hostage and Hermione had been Viktor's. Harry had been thinking about it for a while the night after the task and had quickly realized something rather crucial, he would miss Hermione more than he would miss Ron. End of story. There just wasn't any comparison; Hermione was, and had been since first year, the one person he trusted and relied on above all others. He did care a great deal about Ron, however; it wasn't the same with his 'best mate'...Harry still questioned whether forgiving Ron so quickly was the best thing to have done. _

_Harry gazed out over the unmoving waters before him, and suddenly came to a decision, he was going to go find Hermione and tell her about this. Tell her how he was sorry for having been a prat for a while before the First Task. Tell her he was sorry for the strain his and Ron's fighting must have been putting on her. Tell her how much he appreciated all the stuff she helped him with. Tell her he was sorry for being too stupid to figure this out sooner and ask her to the Yule Ball._

_Harry froze with that thought, and then groaned. Before finding Hermione, there were two other girls he needed to apologize to– Pavarti and Padma Patil. They had graciously agreed to go to the ball with he and Ron despite how last minute the request was, and then Ron and Harry, himself, had been complete gits all night by brooding over the fact they weren't with their ideal dates, instead of looking after making sure their __**actual**__ dates had a good time. _

_Groaning, Harry realized that there was no way around it, he was going to have to grovel some to try and earn their forgiveness. Perhaps buy some flowers or something, and have Hedwig deliver them? Harry was very new at this, and quite frankly, had no bloody idea what the bloody hell he was going to do._

_Thinking of the Yule Ball caused Harry to shudder. For a night that was supposed to have been for fun and enjoyment it had certainly taken a turn for the worse. Seriously, Pavarti had looked beautiful but instead of focussing on that, Harry had focussed on the fact that Cho wasn't with him. 'Merlin, I am such a git!' he mentally berated himself, before setting off to find Professor Sprout._

_Ten minutes later found him outside of the staff room, gulping he knocked on the door. McGonagall answered. "Potter? What is it? Something to do with the tournament?" she asked rapidly. Harry shook his head, "No ma'am. I was, uh, wondering if Professor Sprout was here?" he questioned, looking nervously at the ground._

_McGonagall blinked, "Professor Sprout," she repeated, lips thinning. "Whatever do you require Pomona for, ? I was under the impression you were doing perfectly fine in Herbology– much to and 's credit I'm sure." she added, a slight twinkle in her eye, though Harry– still looking at the ground– couldn't see it. _

"_I-it's not about Herbology per-say, professor." he stated. McGonagall raised a brow. "Then why, , would you require Professor Sprout's presence? She is not your Head of House, so any issues among the students may be reported to me, ."_

_Gulping, and face getting increasingly red, Harry stammered, "I-professor, it-it's about the Yule Ball," he began. McGonagall, confused, parroted, "The Yule Ball, ? What does Pomona have to do with a ball that occurred 2 months ago?"_

"_Professor, I, um well, I took Pavarti to the ball but...Well I was a bit-er-a lot of a git, and Ron wasn't any better to Padma, so I, uh, w-well I wanted to, wanted to apologize to them and kind of thought that I might, um, s-send them some flowers as an apology...I thought that Professor Sprout might be able to help..." he trailed off, face as red as a tomato, staring determinedly at the floor._

_Minerva smiled at this. "My face, is up here ," she began. "Unless there is something particularly interesting about the floor that fascinates you?" she queried in her usual dry humour. Harry looked up hesitantly, still completely red in the face._

"_Now, , perhaps we ought to take this conversation to my office?" Blinking, Harry just followed his Head of House, well and thoroughly confused. When they arrived, Minerva motioned him to sit as she closed and locked the door, before seating herself on the opposite side of the desk. Waving her wand, Minerva conjured two cups of tea, before motioning Harry to take one._

_If Harry was confused before, he was down right lost now. What exactly had just happened he was completely unsure. Harry briefly realized that he had yet to arrive in McGonagall's office and not end up feeling wrong-footed and off balance. Slowly sipping the tea, he waited for McGonagall to speak._

_After a moment Minerva began, "Harry," the use of his first name startled him even further. "You say that you were less than pleasant to your date at the Yule Ball, and while I am not pleased to here this, I am pleased that you are making the effort to apologize for your behaviour. Belated though that apology may be. Now, if I may, why exactly were you and , for that matter, less than pleasant towards and ?" _

_Swallowing hard, Harry mustered up all the courage he possessed and looked at his stern Transfiguration professor, "I had asked Cho Chang from Ravenclaw to the Ball," he began, not meeting Minerva's eyes. "But she was already going with Cedric. And you said that I __**had**__ to have a date because I was a champion. Well Ron had asked, well more like shouted really, at Fleur Delacour to go to the Ball with him...but then he was too embarrassed to even stick around to be turned down...and Hermione had already turned him down too. Anyway, I needed a date, and Ron wanted one and I overheard Pavarti telling Lavender that she still didn't have a date, so I asked her to go with me. And she said that she'd ask her Padma to accompany Ron." _

_Pausing for breath, Harry continued, "So when it came to the night of the Ball...I guess Ron and I were too busy focussing on who we weren't with instead of who we were...And now I feel like a right arse– er, sorry professor– for how I behaved." _

_Shame was evident on Harry's face as he spoke, and in a way it warmed Minerva's heart, if only for the fact it proved that chivalry was not entirely dead. "5 points from Gryffindor for your behaviour, ." she began seeing him slump ever so slightly, but his face showed that he felt it was deserved._

"_5 points to Gryffindor for admitting that you were wrong in your behaviour. And 10 points to Gryffindor for seeking aid to formally apologize to not only your date but 's as well." she finished. Harry's head snapped up, and he gaped at her. _

"_Y-You're not serious, professor?" he questioned. Smirking slightly she said, "No, that would be your godfather, ." she nearly laughed at the stunned expression on his face. "Joking aside, , I am not kidding in awarding points for chivalry. What you are attempting to do is not only pleasing, but noble. There are many males in this castle, Harry. Very few would even consider what you're intending to do, let alone actually attempt it."_

_Harry got red at the compliment on his character, but was still too stunned to try and hide it. "I, uh, th-thanks, professor." he managed to stammer out."So, does that mean that you know where I can find Professor Sprout?" he asked hopefully._

_Lips twitching slightly, Minerva replied, "She has a class at the moment, but should be available to help you in 10 minutes. I believe that it's Greenhouse 3." Harry smiled, and rose from his seat heading to the door. But McGonagall's voice stopped him. "And, Harry?"she began. "Do try not to end up tongue tied in your apologies, won't you?"Harry blinked before grinning sheepishly, "Y-yes, ma'am." he replied before leaving. _

_Minerva smiled to herself once he was gone. "Well," she mused aloud. "It appears as though there are some young men still trying to do things right." she wondered whether it was more than Harry that had the right idea of how to impress a lady, or if he was simply that way inclined without knowing it._

_Meanwhile, Harry arrived, panting, outside of Greenhouse 3 just as the class was leaving. Once the group of 2__nd__ years had passed, Harry tentatively knocked on the door, to which Sprout looked up from whatever she'd been working on. "Ah, . What can I do for you?"_

_Flushing slightly, and staring resolutely at the floor, he sputtered out, "I, uh, I-I need some flowers." Pomona blinked. "What kind, and whatever for?" face getting redder by the second Harry stammered out his story of what had transpired on the night of the Yule Ball and his wish to right things with Padma and Pavarti. By the end of it, Pomona was smiling warmly._

"_Very good, . I, for one, and impressed that you're actually going to go this far to apologize. 10 points to Gryffindor." Harry blinked. What was it with his professors and giving him points for being an arse today? _

_Sprout continued, "So, you're wanting flowers to apologize...let's see, I'd recommend a couple of yellow roses for each of them." Harry went scarlet, "I, uh, p-professor I'm not, I mean, I don't have any r-romantic interest in either of them...I just wanted to apologize." _

_Chuckling internally at her student's embarrassment, Pomona nodded. "Perhaps some daffodils then?" she had assumed that Harry would want plants available in both the muggle and magical world. Harry, still very red, nodded. "Th-that sounds good, professor." he conceded._

_Sprout, shuffled about the greenhouse for a few moments before muttering a muted 'Aha!' and then turning to face Harry, two freshly clipped daffodils in hand. "There you are, . I trust that you are going to be apologizing with more than just handing them the flowers and bolting, yes?" Harry nodded slowly, "Yeah, I-uh-thought I might write an apology and have Hedwig deliver them..." he trailed off, really not knowing what he was doing._

_Pomona smiled at his nervousness. The fact that he was so nervous just proved that he was sincere in his wishes to apologize. "Very good, . I wish you luck, and do try to at the very least make friends with and at a later date." Harry nodded deftly and was off again._

_Groaning internally, Harry made his way to his dorms to begin writing his apologizes to the Patil twins. This was going to be harder than it sounded, he mused, and it sounded pretty bloody hard. Having finished his letters, Harry made his way to the Owlery. Unfortunately, for Harry at least, Lady Luck was not to be on his side today._

_Upon entering the top of the Owlery, Hedwig hooted and swooped down to see him. She perched on his left shoulder and affectionately nipped his ear. He chuckled a bit, "Hullo, girl. How are you?" she shot him a look that said, 'As if __**I**__would be anything but well?' Harry grinned. "Well, at least owls don't have to worry about dating and apologizing for being arses..." he grumbled, half-heartedly._

"_I have two letters for you today girl, and two...well not exactly packages, but flowers actually to go with them. Think you're up for delivering my begs and pleas for forgiveness?" Harry asked. Hedwig shot him what could only be a snooty gaze, that pronounced not only her annoyance at his lack of faith in her ability to deliver anything, but also in his need to send apologizes to anyone in the first place._

_Tying the two letters to Hedwig's leg, and then letting her take the flowers in her beak, Harry smiled sadly at her, "Take these to Padma and Pavarti Patil, okay girl?" except, then– to Harry's horror– a familiar voice said from behind him, "No need, Harry. We're right here."_

_Turning around slowly, Harry saw Pavarti and Padma Patil standing in the doorway to the Owlery. Harry swallowed, __**hard**__. Hedwig, apparently, had decided to move things along for him; gliding across the open space she perched herself on an outstretched wooden perch, and extended her leg to Padma whilst dispensing the daffodils into Pavarti's outstretched hands. _

_Both girls eyed the flowers and letters curiously before glancing at Harry, who was still frozen in silent horror, before looking at each other, shrugging, and opening their respective letters. Padma's letter read:_

_**Padma, **_

_**I, er, well I don't really know what to say here...I guess I should start with the obvious. I'm sorry. About the Yule Ball, and Ron being a right git to you. I'm sorry that he ignored you and that I didn't make him pay attention to you. We were both idiots. I mean there we were, two gorgeous twins on our arms and what do we do? We blow it, and get stuck thinking about who we'd originally wanted to go with. That wasn't fair to you, or Pavarti...it wasn't right.**_

_**It's kind of sad, I can take on Voldemort, or giant spiders, or three-headed dogs; women though, I've never been good with. I guess I just wanted to apologize for ruining yours and Pavarti's night. I know that I can't exactly do anything to make it right, but please accept the flower, and my poorly written apologies.**_

_**Yours,**_

_**Harry Potter.**_

_Pavarti's read:_

_**Pavarti,**_

_**I, um, well– Merlin where do I even start?! I'm sorry. There's really nothing more I can say than that. I'm sorry I was a prat to you at the Ball. I'm sorry Ron wasn't better to Padma. I'm sorry that you had to go find a dateless Durmstrang student because I wasn't being attentive. You and your sister looked beautiful, truly...I was just so focussed on who I'd originally been turned down by to notice, and I'm really sorry for that.**_

_**I hope you'll forgive me in time, and at least accept the flower from Hedwig, cause she never did anything wrong, and don't let Lavender hex my bits for being an arse. There isn't a whole lot more to say, other than well thanks...for going to the Ball with me at all. **_

_**I know there are better guys, men, you could've gone with. Men who know how to treat ladies and how to dance, men who know how to talk to girls and all that other stuff... but you agreed to go with me. A scrawny git, with multi-times fixed glasses, a stupid scar on his forehead and the messy hair from hell; who can't dance, or talk to girls and wasn't fair to you as a lady.**_

_**Yours,**_

_**Harry Potter**_

_Padma, having finished her letter moments sooner, glanced at Pavarti, who then met her eyes and an entire conversation seemed to pass between them. 'Do all twins have some type of communication-without-actually-saying-anything deal, or is it just wizard/witch twins?' Harry mused, trying-and failing to keep the blush on his face to a minimum at having to endure watching his letters of apology be read before him._

_Finally, after what to Harry felt like eternity and a half, the twins turned to him and Pavarti began to speak, "Harry–" the male in question, cut in, "I know it's not going to make up for anything...but I really am sorry." he mumbled, looking defiantly at the floor, trying to keep his blush from rising further. _

_Harry was about to continue, when he felt two sets of arms wrap around him. Head snapping up, Harry gazed down at the set of twins currently holding him. "Um..." he said incoherently. He felt one of them, Padma, chuckle against him. _

"_Relax Harry," Pavarti began again. "We accept your apology, so stop worrying." Padma finished. 'Okay, it's official,' he mused. 'All magical twins have that whole non-verbal communication going for them.' still red in the face, and stiff as a board, Harry slowly, cautiously spoke with no small amount of awe in his voice._

"_So, you two really are okay even though Ron and I buggered up your evening?" Padma replied, "Not exactly." Pavarti, seeing the look of defeat encroaching on Harry's face swiftly continued._

"_We __**do**__ forgive you, Harry. Don't worry about that; it's Ron that we don't forgive." while slightly relieved, Harry was also slightly confused. "Why forgive me and not Ron?" the question more-so directed at Padma as she'd been the date to the boy-in-question._

_Padma snorted softly, "Harry, I know he's your best mate and all, but...well, he's a pig. You at least danced with Pavarti some, whereas he didn't dance with me, period. And while you may have left early and, yes, you did mess up a great deal in the whole 'ideal date' category, you are at least apologizing, and Pavarti __**was**__ with another guy. I, however, was not; and Ronald has made no move to even attempt any type of reconciliation, let alone apology." she stated matter-o-factly._

_Pavarti once more, continued her twin's thought process. "Not to mention, the flowers alone prove that this wasn't just some hastily scribbled apology to try to get another date. Plus, you just asked for forgiveness, not another chance– unlike most guys our age." she noted, a slight tint of annoyance to her voice. "Oh, and Harry?" Pavarti queried. _

_Emerald eyes blinked, as he said, "Yeah, Pavarti?" she finally pulled back from their embrace, Padma following suite– much to Harry's internal disappointment–"I'll make sure Lavender doesn't hex your bits, on one condition." gulping at the looks entering twin hazel eyes, Harry questioned, voice containing barely repressed fear, "A-and what's that?"_

_Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Pavarti spoke, "You a)stop chastising yourself, b)explain what you meant by V-Vol– You-Know-Who, giant spiders and three headed dogs in your letter to Padma, and c)accept our forgiveness by sitting with us in the Great Hall for dinner tonight." _

'_I think that was more than one condition,' Harry remarked mentally. "I, er, alright..." he spoke almost questioningly. Padma snorted softly, "That wasn't a very reassuring answer, Harry." she remarked, eyes glittering with unrestrained mirth. _

_Harry opted to try again, "Yes, I agree to your terms. Better?" he queried. "Much." Padma replied. Looking at the pair, Harry let out a slow breath and proceeded to tell his tales of getting past Fluffy, running into Aragog, and all the times Mouldy-shorts had been a pain in his arse. _

_By the time he was done both girls were gripping onto him as though he were about to vanish, tears in their eyes, a few stray ones slipping past their eyes. Harry was, naturally, completely lost. He had no idea what to do about __**one**__ girl crying, let alone a set of twins! Cautiously, Harry tried to reassure them._

"_It's fine. Don't worry, we all made it out okay, Voldemort– they flinched– isn't in the castle right now, and he's not about to come flying through the wall. I promise, you're both safe nothing to worry about." "Nothing to worry about!?" Padma stated incredulously. "Harry! You've nearly been killed every year you've come to Hogwarts! I fail to see how that's nothing to worry about!"_

_Harry shrugged, "It's nothing I can't handle...I suppose..." he trailed off suddenly far less sure of how to continue this conversation. Thankfully for him at that moment a loud crash sounded from the bottom of the Owlery, causing the three of them to look down over the side to see what had occurred. Thankfully it was just a group of first or second years that had managed to run into each other and drop whatever it was they'd been holding. _

_Noting the sun's position Harry spoke, "I, er, as much as I hate to do this, I really have to get going, I'm supposed to meet Neville to help him with his Defence Against the Dark Arts homework." Which was true, he'd promised Neville that he'd help him about two days before and was only now finally having enough breathing room to do so. _

_The twins sighed but consented, "But remember Harry," Pavarti began as he made his way to the door. "You promised to sit with us at dinner in the Great Hall– we'll be at the Ravenclaw table I expect." Padma finished. Deftly Harry nodded, before leaving the grinning sisters in the Owlery, silently contemplating if all girls were this strange other than Hermione._

**(With Fleur)**

Fleur gazed across her tea at her current company, namely one Don't-Call-Me-Nymphadora, Tonks. The young auror had baby Teddy laying in her arms, gently rocking him as her grey eyes lifted to meet Fleur's blue ones. "So, Fleur...what did you want to talk about?" she finally questioned, breaking the silence.

Fleur had flued Tonks the day before, her memories over the last weeks of times spent with Harry had made her curious about something, and given her reason to call the slightly older witch, seeing as Teddy had been born two weeks ago and things were finally settling down slightly in that regard.

"Yes, I waz...I've been zinking about 'Arry a lot recently..." she began and immediately saw Tonks stiffen, and her face sadden. Wincing, Fleur murmured, "Zorry, I don't mean to bring up painful memoriez." Tonks shook her head, "I'm sure your's are just as painful as mine...So what about Harry?" the Metamorph questioned cautiously.

Fleur looked down for a second before allowing her eyes to meet Tonks'. "Tonks, did 'Arry...did 'Arry ever tell you 'ow much 'e loved you?" she questioned carefully. Tonks eyes widened as she stared at Fleur for a moment, not entirely sure what to say. "I'm not sure what you're insinuating Fleur, but I assure you I belong to Remus now, and have for a while now. I didn't cheat on anyone if that's what you're thinking." she said sharply. Fleur was taken aback by Tonks' answer.

"Non! Bon Dieu, non! Ça ce n'est pas de tout qu'est-ce que je voulais dire!" Tonks blinked, "Er, Fleur...um, English please?" she asked sheepishly. Fleur blushed, "Zorry, I 'ave a 'abit of zpeaking French when I 'ave a large amount of emotion in wat I am zaying." clearing her throat she continued, "Wat I zaid, waz zat I never zought anyzing like zat Tonks! Good God, I waz only talking about when you and 'e were zeeing each ozer!"

Tonks coloured slightly, but quickly used her metamorph capabilities to fight down the blush. "Oh, well um, in that case no. I mean, he told me I was beautiful and everything like most blokes who want to keep their girlfriends do, but um specifically explaining that he was head-over-heels-over-brokeback for me or something, no."

Fleur wasn't entirely sure what Tonks meant by "brokeback" but decided it wasn't overly important. "I zought zo," she began. Tonks looked at her quizzically so Fleur quickly continued, "'E, 'Arry, told me once 'e loved you very much...but 'e also said your 'eart didn't belong to 'im._ '_E said 'e couldn't tell you 'ow much 'e wished 'e could be ze one for you because 'e juste wanted whatever you wanted for you. I zought you might like to know 'e loved you more zan 'e let on, I zink."

Tonks couldn't help it when her eyes glazed over and she fell back into her memories. First was one from almost 2 years ago, when Harry had first asked her to date him.

_They were at Grimmauld Place, the Order meeting had ended half an hour before, but Tonks had opted to hang around as she didn't have to be at work again until Monday. Harry had been glancing around nervously for a while, and it was starting to bug her– a lot. Something about a 15 year old being almost as twitchy as Mad-Eye just didn't sit right with Tonks, but– seeing as Sirius and Molly were having yet another row over something with Remus playing mediator, and Hermione had gone to visit her parents for a while– it appeared as though she was the only one who was picking up on Harry's nervousness. _

_Thus, Tonks tapped him on the shoulder, to which he jumped whirled and had his wand drawn faster than most aurors Tonks knew, quickly raising her hands in defence she said, "Hey, hey. It's just me. Bloody hell, Harry. You're in a house guarded by the Fidelius Charm! You're almost as bad as Mad-Eye, and he's the most paranoid person this side of the Atlantic!" Harry turned bright red, but did swiftly lower his wand some before saying quietly, "What is it that you told me your mother can do but you could never get right?"_

_Tonks sighed muttering, "On second thought, you might just take the title from Mad-Eye." before continuing louder, "I told you that she could get the socks all neat and folded and crap. And I still can't." Harry nodded, and put his wand away. "So, uh, was there something you needed, Tonks?" he asked after several seconds of silence._

_Tonks thought for a second before saying, "Come with me." he looked confused but when she started walking he just followed. Tonks internally smiled at that, most guys didn't let a girl lead them anywhere, let alone when they didn't know the final destination. Tonks guided them to her temporary room at Grimmauld, which happened to be down the hall from both Remus' and Sirius'. _

_When she turned around she noticed Harry looking very apprehensive as he stood in the doorway. Rolling her eyes Tonks said, "You can come in you know." blushing lightly, Harry slowly came in and sat, stiff as a board, on a chair across from her. Tonks had to cover a laugh at his obvious discomfort with being in a girl's room. "Harry, why are you so tense all the time? I mean you're not still at the Dursleys, your not even at Hogwarts surrounded by hundreds of annoying twerps. You're at your godfathers house, with your friends, and the Order all of whom are bound and determined to keep you alive."_

_Harry avoided looking at her, and gazed pointedly at the floor. "It's not because of Voldemort..." he muttered, but Tonks caught it. "So what __**is**__ it because of then?" Harry was silent, huffing Tonks said, "Merlin's beard, Harry! It can't be __**that**__ bad! Is it Ginny or Hermione? Or is it being in this building in general? Did the twins do something? Or Ron? Is Molly coddling you enough that it feels like an attack?Is–" _

"_NO." he snapped abruptly, cutting her off. Before turning bright red and apologizing. "Sorry, Tonks. I, uh, didn't mean to snap...I just, I can't..." he sighed before trying again. "It isn't something anyone can help me with." he said finally. Tonks was having none of that though. "You can't know that until you tell someone Harry." she pointed out, Tonks could see his suppressed temper agitating him and was hoping that if she pushed enough he'd just say it._

_Tonks was not disappointed. Harry's head snapped up, Avada Kedavra-green eyes locked on her currently blue eyes as he finally all but seethed out, "__**Fine! You want to know why I'm so bloody tense all the time?! Because I can't be around you, Tonks!**__" she winced thinking he meant he was disgusted by her metamorph powers, but seeing that Harry quickly put his temper on ice, and quickly moved to sooth her. _

"_Tonks, I'm sorry! It's not what you think, I swear! And I didn't mean to yell." he tacked the last bit on the end as an afterthought. Tonks however, displayed her anger now at what was not an uncommon phenomena for her to have to endure. "Oh really, Harry?" she asked scathingly. "So you didn't just say that you can't be around me?! Do I horrify you Harry? Well? Does it disgust you to think that I can be male or female depending on my mood? Or that my hair and eye colour can change at will or even when I'm not thinking about it?!" she all but hissed at him. Harry would later wonder if she had actually hissed would he have been able to understand it because of Parseltongue?_

_Completely thrown, Harry's rapidly moving jaw finally formed words. "Tonks wait!" he said, seeing her getting up to leave. "I didn't mean anything like that! I couldn't care less if you're a metamorphmagus, bloody hell! I have house elves, half giants and hippogriffs as friends! And so what if you can change your appearance? So can any other witch or wizard given the right spell or potion! Tonks, I don't mean I can't be around me because you disgust me, I can't be around you becauseI'mattractedtoyouandIknowthaty ouhavenointerestinmethatways oit'shardtocontrol" _

_Tonks blinked several times, her brain trying to unscramble the words. Finally the ever intelligent "Huh?" left her vocal cords, and Harry's pink face began to redden. "I-I, uh...I h-have to go!" he stuttered out. Tonks' auror reflexes, however, were milliseconds to quick for the swift boy. "Hold it, Potter!" she said, grabbing his arm, noting a flinch but not commenting based on her need to focus on the topic at hand._

_Taking a breath, Tonks queried, "You're interested in me?" Harry, looking resolutely at the floor, said nothing. Huffing Tonks continued, "There's nothing wrong with that Harry, I'm flattered really..." she paused before continuing, "But if you're only interested in me cause I can change into anyone you can dream of, I have no interest." she stated venomously. Harry's head snapped up, and his jaw slackened. _

"_You-you..." he trailed off and tried again, "Do you really think so little of me Tonks? To believe that I would ever ask you to change who you are and how you look for my own desires? What kind of sick pervert do you think I am?!" he asked, a distinct hint of anger in his voice. Tonks met him half way and countered, "Harry, rarely have I ever met a man who __**doesn't**__ want me to change; it tends to put your gender in a bad light to start with." this caused Harry to frown, before he said flatly, "Well their bloody morons. If they can't appreciate how beautiful you are, than they ought to sod off."_

_Tonks smirked at that, "Well said." she muttered, looking at the boy-young man, she mentally corrected- in front of her, Tonks couldn't help but feel an attraction to him, with his lithe but muscled body, raven locks that swept gently at the top of his forehead, barely covering his scar, and those brilliant green eyes behind the spectacles that seemed to do almost nothing to lessen their intensity. Tonks smiled softly and said, "I think I may like you too, Harry."_

Tonks smiled to herself as she recalled Harry's apprehension around her when they started dating, and the sheer amount of shock that had been written in all capitals, bold print and underlined across his face when she'd admitted to liking him back. She had begun to worry she'd broken him, until he suddenly lunged forward and kissed her in one of the most fiercely passionate kisses of her life. And there had been some passionate kisses.

Before she could get back to the conversation at hand a second memory welled up inside Tonks' mind. This one, the one of when Harry had let her go.

_They had been dating for almost a year, 10 months-ish to be more precise. Harry had taken to visiting her during Hogsmead trips, as well as sneaking off the castle grounds occasionally when he could manage, telling everyone inside the castle that he had detention– which given the amount he actually had received that year was not at all unbelievable– and it was almost the end of the school year now. Harry had his OWL's in a few weeks as it was._

_Harry had asked her to meet him inside the shrieking shack tonight, a location they'd frequented enough that it was easy for her to apparate in and out with ease. She heard footsteps approach and drawing her wand, waited to ensure it was indeed Harry. The second her raven haired boyfriend came in sight a grin came across her features, but– used to his paranoia by this point– she refrained from just going to him (that hadn't ended so well the one and only time she'd tried it). "Change." he said simply. _

_Nodding Tonks closed her eyes and shifted her hair through all the colours of the rainbow, and turned her nose into a duck bill for good measure. Harry lowered his wand and she asked, "What did you tell me the first time you saw me in my true form?" now it was Harry who smiled, "I told you that you were absolutely gorgeous, and if it weren't for the fact that you'd have guys and girls falling all over you from your beauty I'd ask you to stay that way always." smiling at the memory, Tonks nodded, and turned into her true form as she customarily did when they met in private._

_Her pink hair turning midnight black, the soft curves of a heart shaped face becoming more angular and pronounced, her breasts going from a B to C cup size, her skin becoming a few shades paler, height increasing a few inches and finally she opened her now silvery-grey eyes. Before she could say anything, Harry kissed her. "Merlin woman you're beautiful!" he exclaimed after pulling back for air. Tonks felt herself flush, but quickly squashed it down with her abilities._

_They talked and laughed together as they usually did for a few hours before Harry became strangely serious, although she'd noticed he'd seemed more reserved than usual in their banter. Harry spoke then, "Tonks," he began softly, looking up at her through his raven fringe, "I-I, I think that we need to stop seeing each other like this..." he trailed off and Tonks felt her heart crack, and her head spin. "What?" was all she could ask, voice cracking. _

"_I, uh, I've never actually had to do this before and I wish I didn't have to now...but, Tonks, I know that I'm not the only man you love." those words had caused her head to swim. Harry continued before she could speak though, "I'm not saying you ever cheated on me or anything, I know you didn't so don't ever try to think that." he paused again, and locked eyes with her, Tonks could feel herself drowning in those emerald pools she'd become accustomed to losing herself in, but not like this. Never before like this._

"_I'm not mad Tonks. Professor Lupin is a great man, and you deserve that. A great man. Not some boy with a target the size of England on his back." she didn't realize she was crying until he raised his hand and gently wiped away her tears. _

"_Ton– Nymphadora," he stated softly, she couldn't even bring herself to be mad at him for using that name, "I will always care for you. And I will forever look back on the time I spent with you like this and smile. However, I know that you're heart isn't truly mine to have and to hold, as long as we both shall live. It belongs to Professor Lupin, and if I had to lose you to anyone, he would be one of my only picks. So, I'm letting you go Nymphadora Tonks, and I hope by Merlin that scruffy old wolf gets his head out of his arse in time to figure out that you do love him." with that Harry had leaned forward, placed one last chaste kiss on her lips, gone to the entrance to the shack, looked at her one last time and said gently, "Thank-you Tonks, and good luck." Then he was gone. _

Tonks had remained there for some time before finally returning to her flat, and going to her room to cry. It took almost a month until Tonks finally completely acknowledged that Harry had been doing what they both knew would happen eventually, but even she hadn't wanted to think about. Despite that knowledge however, she was still unbelievably heartbroken in the following weeks.

The next time she'd seen Harry had been at the Department of Mysteries, and that hardly counted as actually seeing him, as they'd had no time to talk.And when they met briefly at the Burrow when Dumbledore brought him, Tonks had been rather distraught over yet another try at getting Remus to date her and yet another failure in doing so. When she got him off the Hogwarts Express she was still distraught, but Harry had just smiled that sad, gentle smile of his, pecked her cheek and said "Don't worry, he'll get his head out of his arse eventually." before going up to the castle. Christmas at the Burrow had been alright, Harry had sneakily kissed her under some mistletoe when no one was looking, but that was the only moment they'd been alone, so still there had been no time for talking. The attack on Hogwarts also hadn't leant them any reprieve, with Dumbledore's death and all. And of course the removal of Harry from the Dursleys was once again rather rushed.

Therefore Tonks had a great deal of things she still wanted to say to Harry. Looking at Fleur again, she finally said, "He never said anything..." she trailed off. Before questioning, "Why are you telling me this now?" Fleur looked thoughtful for a moment.

She replied slowly, "Zere waz...I mean, 'e sent me anozzer letter– not to everyone, juste to me...and it made me zink of ze time I zaw 'im before 'e went to 'Ogwarts last year...'E was very sad about 'aving broken up weeth you, but 'e 'id eet very well, non?" the blonde asked rhetorically. Tonks was surprised, she hadn't been expecting such a blunt response...maybe it was a French thing, she mused. Then her mind caught onto the first thing Fleur had said.

"He sent you another letter?" Tonks asked sharply. Fleur nodded, producing a piece of parchment from her back pocket, "Eet does not zay much about were 'e is. But, 'e zaid 'e 'as found a 'orcrux, but 'e doesn't know 'ow to destroy eet." She said, not handing Tonks the letter, but Tonks didn't press for more details assuming the letter was personal.

The cogs in Tonks' mind were whirling, so Harry was still alive, and had found a horcrux te-boot. Although, they still had no bloody clue where in Merlin's name he was. Sighing softly Tonks looked at Fleur and noticed something in the Veela's look she hadn't before and as she replayed their topics of conversation in their head, realization suddenly came crashing down on the metamorph. "Merlin's beard..." she gasped, "He's in love with you, isn't he!"

**(Inside Harry's Mind)**

_Harry had successfully gone to dinner with the Patil twins, and been congratulated privately by McGonagall and Sprout later that evening. Now came the part Harry was most nervous about; talking to Hermione. He had been plenty nervous all through dinner, as both twins had not only noted, but pointed out to him. Gathering up what was left of his courage, Harry walked through the portrait hole after muttering a quick "toujours prets" to the Fat Lady. _

_Gazing around the common room, he saw Hermione perched on a chair, a stack of books beside her. Smiling a little to himself at the image, Harry walked towards her. Stopping beside her, it took a moment or two before Hermione looked up at him, curiosity evident in her deep brown eyes as she queried, "Is something wrong, Harry?" _

_Harry cleared his throat and asked back, "No, I just...can you come with me for a bit?" Hermione's brow furrowed in a way that made Harry's heart twang. Finally the bushy haired girl nodded, putting her book down on the chair. She stood and as Harry turned he could sense her questioning eyes on his back as she followed him out of the common room. _

_Harry brought them to a spot that very much confused Hermione; he brought them to a Quidditch dressing room. He turned and held up his hand, "Wait here for a minute, please?" he half asked half told her. Hermione was beyond confused now, but deftly nodded anyway. Harry returned moments later carrying his Firebolt of all things. _

_Hermione began, "Harry what–" the raven haired young man cut in, "Do you trust me enough to get on this with me?" Hermione blinked, "__**Of course**__ I trust you Harry!" she exclaimed. Harry grinned a little at that, before straddling the broom a bit further forward than he usually would, and motioned for Hermione to sit behind him. She did so, if only a little apprehensively, and wrapped her arms around his waist– unknowingly causing Harry to flush._

_Harry took off, keeping in mind Hermione's dislike of going fast on brooms, he leisurely took them to the roof of the astronomy tower, and began to descend onto it. Hermione gaped at him from behind, "Harry! We can't land on the roof!" she exclaimed. He tried to calm her, "Relax Hermione, I've done this loads of times." this seemed to mollify her remarkably little._

_Landing them anyway, Harry swiftly cast sticking charms on each of them, so their feet would stick to the roof. This seemed to help Hermione slightly more than his reassurances he noted, much to his chagrin. Hermione rounded on him by this point, "Harry Potter! What in God's name is going on?! First you disappear almost all day, then at dinner you sit with Pavarti and Padma, and when you show up in the common room you ask me to come with you to Lord-know's-where to do Merlin-know's-what...And now we're on the roof of the bloody astronomy tower! What is going on!?" she demanded, questions practically oozing out of her._

_Harry held up his hands in defence and chose his words carefully, "Hermione..." he began. She looked at him expectantly. But when he looked at her, under the pale moonlight on the roof; the cool night breeze lightly blowing her hair; brown eyes glistening with a passion for knowledge and confusion; arms crossed in defiance and expectation...all the words suddenly left Harry's mind, so he did the only thing he could think of. He reached out, pulled her towards him, and kissed her._

**AN:/ Yes, it's another cliff hanger– relax I'm thinking of giving them up for lent so in several months there may be a window I'll stop cliff-hanger-ing. So, was it worth the wait? I certainly hope so. All reviews, favourites, alerts, flames and what-have-you are much appreciated and considered despite the fact I will only reply to some of them( I really do read them all but typing, "I'm glad you like my story" in different variants to everyone who says anything seems a trifle redundant and like a waste of time, but any questions I will definitely reply to when I have time). Also, what did you think of the Patil twins involvement in this? **

**Next Time( or at least at some point in a relatively close chapter): What happened when Harry kissed Hermione? What will Tonks do with her knowledge of Harry's love for Fleur? What will Fleur do with that knowledge for that matter? When will Harry learn of Teddy? Will Tonks ever get to talk everything over with Harry before it's too late? Is this the last we'll hear of the Patil twins? Speaking of Hermione, where the devil are she, Ron, Luna, Neville, the twins and Ginny in all this?****And most importantly, how will Harry get out of this one?!**

**All this and hopefully more at some point in the coming chapters(And no I am not going to one day randomly abandon this story).**

**Thanks for reading:**

**~GGUC**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:/ Hey guys, how's it hanging? Yeah… you're all pissed this took so long to get up, aren't you? (That's rhetorical, but you can spam me if it makes you feel better anyways). Regardless, this is the next chapter of "Harry Potter and the Day it All Changed" Hopefully it's not too confusing, and the names don't glitch out again, cause that really is an annoying thing. But, I digress that I will try—and most likely fail—to get faster and more proficient at updating! I make no promises though. Enough of me though, on with the chapter that you've all been so awesome about waiting for!**

_**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters, locations, spells, etc, etc. **_

And all of a sudden Harry came to. No longer chocked by the locket, and no longer under the frigid waters, Harry gasped. He quickly inhaled oxygen into his lungs as even the bubble-head charm did nothing when you were strangled to aid that. After several long moments of gasping and coughing, Harry glanced around for his saviour. He came face to face with two large, green, tennis-ball like eyes and instantly knew his answer. "Dobby!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Oh great and wonderful Harry Potter! You're alive!" Dobby wailed, launching himself into Harry's arms, and balling into his chest.

Harry, uncertain what to do, slowly put his arms around the wailing elf, and replied, "It's okay Dobby, I'm alive…"he paused before everything that had just happened really sunk in and said with awe in his voice, "Dobby, you saved my life!"

He pulled back to look into Dobby's puffy eyes and said, "Dobby, I-I, thank-you. I thought I was going to die… but you, Dobby you saved me…!" With that Harry let out a relieved laugh and pulled Dobby into another brief hug. Several moments later Dobby was still blowing his nose in one of his socks.

"Oh great and wonderful Harry Potter, you mustn't _thank_ Dobby for pulling you out! Dobby would _never_ let anything happen to the great and wonderful Harry Potter if he could prevent it!" Dobby would have continued rambling but Harry cut him off.

"Dobby, please it's just Harry and thank-you truly." Harry smiled at the elf before continuing, "Not to change the subject, but Dobby… _how_ did you save me exactly?" At this Dobby looked slightly confused.

"Dobby used his elf magiks to get Harry Potter out of the cold water and away from the dark one! Harry Potter musn't be angry with Dobby, but Dobby threw the nasty dark one over there…" looking thoroughly worried, Dobby shakily pointed towards where the locket lay on the ground, still twitching somehow.

Harry frowned at it before turning to Dobby, "I'm not angry, Dobby. How could I be? You saved my life!" Something else unusual about the circumstances then occurred to Harry. "Dobby, how did you know where I was?"

The hyperactive house elf was silent for a moment, looking away from Harry. "Oh great and wonderful Harry Potter, Dobby didn't _mean _to but when Harry Potter saved Dobby from his awful masters then-then Dobby's magiks tied themselves to Harry Potters…" the elf trailed off as Harry's eyes widened.

His first thought was 'Bugger. Hermione's going to kill me.' After which he looked at Dobby and said, "Dobby, I… I thought you liked being a free elf though?" he asked, unsure what to say.

Dobby turned a kind of darker colour Harry was fairly certain was a blush as the elf relied, "Dobby does like being a free elf Master Harry Potter sir, but Dobby can't be without a master…. His magiks would fade and Dobby would be dying then…" Harry was almost more startled by that fact than the fact he apparently had a house elf for the last five years without knowing it.

"Dobby," he began carefully. "Are you telling me that you need a master to survive? Is it like that for all house elves? Or did the Malfoys" Dobby winced at the mention of his previous masters' name but Harry pressed on. "Do something to you that made you need a master?"

Dobby shook his head feverently. "Oh no, master Harry Potter, sir! All house elves be needing magik from their ties to their masters to be living! Dobby thought all wizzys be knowing that…" the little elf trailed off clearly thinking about punishing himself for implying Harry didn't know something.

Harry took Dobby's thin arms into his hands and said, "Don't punish yourself Dobby!" Harry paused before deciding to try something, "Dobby? As your master I can give you orders, right?" he asked cautiously.

Dobby blinked before nodding. "Of course Master Harry Potter, sir, Dobby is being an elf and that is what elves do. We is following our masters orders."

Harry smiled a little, "Then I order you never to punish yourself. If you think you've done something that requires punishment then you are to come and find me and we'll talk about what is or is not justifiable punishment. Alright?"

Dobby seemed to hesitate for a moment, as though the mere idea was painful to consider before he nodded and then promptly leapt into Harry, bawling about how great and wonderful a wizard Harry Potter was. Harry's face instantly turned beat red.

Opting to try to move on, Harry stood slowly, and made his way over to the lake where the sword of Gryffindor lay. Glancing in, he saw its hilt glittering through the inky water. Harry shivered a little, but still knew he needed the sword. He didn't know why, but the sword of Gryffindor would always appear to a Gryffindor in need of it; that's what Dumbledore had told him, and Harry couldn't help but believe him.

Dobby had followed Harry over to the lake's surface and he spoke, "Master Harry Potter, sir, you mustn't be goings back into the dark place!" Dobby decreed voice high in alarm. Harry looked at Dobby and sighed.

"Dobby, I _have_ to get the sword off the bottom of the lake…" he paused trying to think of how to elaborate. "I can't explain _why_ exactly, I just… I know that I need it." He finished lamely. Dobby was regarding Harry in interest, before finally speaking his thoughts.

"Master Harry Potter, sir, if yous be needing the shiny stick, Dobby could be summoning it with elf magiks for him?" the elf suggested tentatively. Harry stared at the tiny elf thunderstruck.

"You can do that?!" Harry exclaimed. "Just summon the sword to you?" Dobby nodded as though this should be obvious, which made Harry slightly uneasy, but he pressed on regardless.

"Yes, sir, that is why Dobby being suggesting it." The house elf replied, large, green eyes staring up, unblinkingly at Harry. Harry felt rather stupid as he wondered why a summoning charm hadn't occurred to him. Forget asking Dobby to summon it, Harry couldn't believe he hadn't thought of the spell that had aided him so much in his fourth year.

Finally re-finding his voice Harry said, "If it's no trouble then, Dobby, would you summon the sword for me?" Dobby's mouth split into a wide grin as he replied in a happily, excited tone.

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir! It be being Dobby's pleasure, sir!" and, that said, Dobby simply snapped his fingers and the hilt of the sword flew to his thin hand.

Harry resisted the urge to groan at his own stupidity as Dobby extended the hilt to him. Thanking him, Harry took the sword and made his way over to the locket, still lying on the ground, twitching occasionally. It was time to see just what this thing could do.

**(At Hogwarts)**

Hermione Granger was NOT happy. She was stressing out beyond belief, and they _still_ didn't have the first clue as to where Harry was! Hermione was beyond worried about him, she was bloody terrified! What if something happened or the death eaters caught him? Hermione could not fathom for the life of her, or for all her brilliance WHY the order made her, and Ron for that matter, return to Hogwarts! THEIR BEST FRIEND WAS MISSING AND THE ORDER EXPECTED THEM TO ATTEND CLASSES LIKE NORMAL?!

Hermione huffed to herself, once again trying and failing to think about anything else. Ever since Harry had left the Burrow all those months ago Hermione's thoughts had almost always gone back to him; her dreams plagued with nightmares of horrible things happening to him or memories of times she wished she'd done something different. 'Oh Harry,' she thought to herself helplessly. 'Where _are_ you?'

Hermione's mood hadn't been helped any by Ron's seeming lack of concern for Harry's whereabouts. Logically she knew that Ron was worried about Harry, but the redhead was so emotionally dense, that he didn't recognize Hermione's anxiety, nor did he openly voice any worry of his own other than the occasional remark. Ron actually seemed to be taking their time at Hogwarts now as an opportunity to try to persuade Hermione to date him!

'Of all the ridiculous things,' Hermione thought to herself exasperated. 'He _has_ to take interest in me only when Harry, our _best friend_ is missing!' Honestly, she couldn't believe Ron was taking interest only now. Part of her wondered if it wasn't Harry's first letter that had given Ron the idea to be interested in her!

Looking out her dorm window at the snow covered grounds, Hermione shivered. The bright young witch couldn't believe how Hogwarts had fallen since Snape became headmasters. Torturing students! Never in her life had Hermione been so appalled, and she'd heard about the Dursleys! Having taken a leaf out of her raven-haired friend's book, Hermione was in no way holding back from voicing her opinions to the tyrants Snape called professors.

'Damn death eater bastards!' Hermione thought, hand unconsciously touching a cut on her right cheek—the handiwork of one of said 'professors'. Hermione wouldn't stop voicing her thoughts though. Not even when Ron tried to make her. She knew that it was what Harry would have wanted them to do, and it seemed Neville and Luna wanted the same. The usually quieter pair having been unusually bold in their opinions to the new 'professors'.

Hermione smiled a little thinking of how much Neville and Luna had grown and changed since even the previous year, but it soon turned melancholy. Luna, sweet, innocent, loving Luna, who had always been utterly unperturbed by the maliciousness of other students, was missing now… Forcibly, violently, taken away by the Death Eaters to God knew where… Hermione shuddered Neville had become even more resilient with Luna's disappearance.

The once nervous, quiet, bumbling young boy with round cheeks and an untidy appearance was now a strong, strapping young man. Neville's voice was unwavering as he stood up for the younger years, and his peers as well. He was now every bit the Gryffindor Hermione knew he could be, and Hermione would bet her edition of_ Hogwarts, A History_ that Harry knew it too.

Hermione felt sadness overcome her once more as her thoughts returned to Harry. Their brave, kind, loyal and modest to a fault Harry. He was out there all alone now… hunting for Horcruxes no one knew where and trying to save the whole world all on his own. A small sigh escaped Hermione's lips as she thought, 'It's just such a… a _Harry_ thing to do. Taking all the responsibility on him even when he should know we would have gone with him!'

Hermione's brilliant mind became hazy as she remembered a time from years before. It had been a little less than three years now since the first time Harry had kissed her. He hadn't actually done it that many times—contrary to what the twins assumed—but each time had been special.

Honestly the first time Harry had kissed her that night on top of the astronomy tower…

Hermione was too shocked to even try and process what was happening. She recalled that she had been furious with her raven haired friend for taking her up so high, especially so late, but then Harry had kissed her and all at once her knees shook and the fact they were _on the bloody astronomy tower_ left her mind entirely. Hermione remembered feeling her heart gallop faster than ever in her chest, and how the feel of his lips on hers had set her nerves ablaze.

A shiver ran up Hermione's spine at the memory. Harry had had such passion in his eyes that night. The beautiful utterly devoted kind of passion that is only read about in romance novels, and there it was in Harry's emerald eyes; directed at her. Hermione had been left breathless by those smoldering eyes before his lips even met hers. Those beautiful emeralds of his glittering in the pale, white moonlight, burning with a joie-de-vivre Hermione had rarely ever seen before.

Something about it had made her blood roar through her veins, and her heart hammer away like the beating of a drum. Hermione recalled how Harry's strong, nimble fingers entangling themselves in her bush of hair, and how her own hands had thrown themselves around his neck, independent of any thoughts she, herself, may have had.

He had tasted of spring and fresh air, but there was also something else… a fiery feel that drew Hermione in and made her forget herself for the moments they had been joined that way. When he had pulled away, the pair of them gasping for sorely needed oxygen, Hermione's head had been spinning. Hermione felt dizzy and intoxicated and as though as long as she had Harry beside her she would never need anything else.

Mind snapping back to reality, Hermione blushed, grateful no one was around. Honestly, it was bad enough when Neville or Ron caught her staring into space _worrying_ about Harry, she didn't know what she would do if anyone caught her _**fantasizing**_ about him! 'I can't believe he mentioned having kissed me in that letter!' she thought, embarrassedly happy.

Before she could continue that thought though, she heard a creak behind her and a gentle rap on the door. Whirling around Hermione saw Ron standing at the door, tall and gangly with an awkward look on his face as he asked rhetorically, "You're thinking about him again aren't you."

Hermione sighed softly as she returned her gaze to the window she had forgotten she was gazing out. It was growing darker out by the minute, and she could see how her breath had fogged the glass. "I can't help it," she began softly. "He's our best friend, and the Order is making us stay here when he's out there fighting for his life all alone…" Hermione trailed off unable to keep following that thought.

Ron, who had walked over to stand beside her, said nothing for several moments before replying, "He wouldn't want it, you know?" Ron caught her gaze as he continued, "Harry wouldn't want us to be worrying about him. He'd want us to be here keeping everyone, including us, safe from those bloody Death Eaters."

Hermione had no argument for that, logical or otherwise. There was no denying the truth in Ron's words, so—returning her gaze outside once more—she whispered brokenly as unshed tears collected in her brown orbs, "I know."

**(With Luna):**

Dilated blue orbs stared into the emptiness of the cell surrounding her. Her tangled, curly blonde hair matted with a variety of filths and grime, and her pale skin caked with similar dirt. Her clothes were filthy and worn; several points where threads were fraying out in all directions. Her eyes were surrounded by dark, bruise like circles from sleepless nights; her already tiny form made smaller from lack of proper food and clean water. Despite, or perhaps in spite of this, the petite girl sat up on the mockery of a chair, and smiled serenely looking about the same dimly lit room she'd been in for weeks now.

The man in the corner often made nonsense noises from where he was curled up, not that she paid him any mind, but she felt bad for him. 'The Nargles must be truly awful to him.' She thought idly to herself.

Luna Lovegood had been locked up in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor for three weeks now, but she was not afraid. When the Death Eaters came and rattled the door, or hurled un-aimed hexes and curses about, Luna did not so much as flinch. It irritated the hell out of many of the death eaters, but even when they hit her, the blonde had no outwardly visible reaction. Even the well feared Bellatrix Lestrange had been unable to yield any results from the whimsical girl held prisoner.

The reason for this fearlessness—unknown to anyone else save her late mother and her father—was that Luna was a seer. Not a particularly well versed or honed one, but a true seer. As a result of this, Luna was unafraid. Her visions had shown her that she would make it out alive—a hero come to save her. Luna did not know the identity of her saviour to be, but she knew that they would come, and that she would survive.

That was why Luna was able to wait so patiently for her hero. She knew she would make it out alive, and that these people would pay for their cruelty, and that was enough for her. Just knowing that she would live and get out somehow was enough for the young blonde who had suffered such harsh judgements in her short life.

A soft smile played on Luna's lips as she began to hum a tune to herself. She could here footsteps on the concrete stairs leading down to the dungeons, and recognized them to be the Malfoy heir's. This only caused her lips to twitch a tad more upwards as though this amused her. When the blonde haired boy, for he certainly couldn't be a man, arrived he was both unnerved and aggravated to see the younger Ravenclaw bloody _smiling_ and _humming_! She was in a dungeon for Merlin's sake!

Deciding to release some of his agitation on her, Draco yelled, "What's wrong with you?! You're a filthy, dirty, mongrel of a girl, locked in a dungeon as bloody _bait_! No one at Hogwarts even cares that you're gone! And yet you sit here and hum? Even you can't be _that_ mad!"

Luna did nothing, and gave no reply except for her smile to widen a little, much to Draco's irritation. What was it with these whack job friends of Potter's and being unable to realize there was something wrong with the picture?

Deciding to try a different route, Draco drawled, "They've caught him you know…" Draco gazed at his perfectly cut fingernails as he continued, "It's only a matter of time now before they start executing freaks like you. They might even start with your lot, being all friendly with Scar-head and all." Grey eyes glanced up as Draco looked for a reaction.

Nothing; Luna remained the same motionless statue she had been before, with that same eerily serene smile on her face… Like Luna was high on some type of potion or some such thing. It made Draco want to run away in fear, made him feel like an intruder in his own family's dungeon.

Giving up for now out of anger, he slammed his hands against the bars, eliciting a yelp from the dying old man curled up in the back, but nothing from the blonde on the chair. Not so much as a quiver. Turning on his heal, Draco stomped up the stairs. He would have to return to Hogwarts soon anyways.

Luna released the breath she'd been holding once Draco was out of ear shot, and allowed the tremble she'd been holding in to pass through her body. Luna was many things, wise, kind, unperturbed, peaceful, whimsical, and unwavering; however, even if they never saw it, Luna was still unable to completely remove the fear in her heart despite her prophetic knowledge. Not that the Death Eaters need know that, nor did Luna intend to let them see it.

**(With Fleur and Tonks)**

Fleur was silent to Tonks' surprise, which told the new mother everything she needed to know. Finally, Tonks shocked Fleur by chuckling in an amusedly exasperated way. "That boy…" Tonks muttered, running a hand through her now onyx hair.

Fleur's brow furrowed, leaving slight creases on her flawless skin as her blue eyes flashed her utter confusion. "You…"shaking her head, Fleur tried again, "You are not… angry zat 'e eez eenterested een me?" she asked, cursing her accent the whole time.

Tonks shook her head, "Harry's not mine anymore Fleur, I've known that since two years ago, and I admit it hurt watching Ginny throw herself at him, and it smarted a bit knowing Molly was so absolutely certain Ginny was the best thing for Harry… But this is different. Honestly? I feel bad for you." Fleur raised a delicate blonde eyebrow in misunderstanding.

Voicing her confusion Fleur questioned slowly, "You theenk that 'Arry eez zo… bad zat you feel bad for me?"

Tonks had snapped up, "No! No, no, no, no, no, no! That's not what I meant at all, Fleur! Harry's absolutely wonderful, loyal to a fault and a gentleman beyond belief—and he kisses like you wouldn't believe—" Tonks added coyly. "What I meant is that I feel bad for you, only finding out Harry loves you when he's gone off looking for Horcruxes, Merlin-knows-where-and-for-how-long; not to mention that you and Bill are engaged."

Fleur relaxed realizing her fault in comprehension. "Tonks… 'ow deed you get over eet? When 'Arry, 'ow you Eenglish say, 'broke eet off' with you, what did you do?" Fleur was genuinely curious, because at the moment, anything would help her in trying to understand the flailing hurricane of emotions in her heart.

Tonks was silent for several long moments, her hair and eyes unconsciously changing colour—much to the quarter-Veela's amusement—going from onyx hair and blue eyes to purple with grey eyes, blue with pink eyes, mahogany with green eyes, and so on until eventually it settled on Tonks' "usual" pink hair with grey eyes that contained flecks of violet within them. Tonks was apparently done thinking.

Tonks' pale pink lips pursed a little, before she finally spoke. Her voice was soft, but tinged with lingering pain and her eyes held hints of heartache in with their violet flecks, "I… I didn't actually get over it, Fleur. Not for a long time… Oh, bugger it," she muttered. "Honestly Fleur? I was heartbroken for months on end; I never even got to say my part in it, because Harry never gave me the chance to. I still haven't gotten to get my two galleons in. I was pretty pissed about that for a while too, that Harry didn't give me a chance to tell him my opinion, I mean. I knew, I still know, deep down that he was right, and that I do love Remus…"

Tonks shook her head and took a shuddering breathe before continuing, "It hurt so much though… I thought I was dying, I couldn't even properly morph for a few weeks—it was bad enough that Amelia, er, my boss gave me two weeks off— If it weren't for Remus, I honestly don't know how I would've made it through." Smiling slightly, Tonks looked down at her son still asleep in her arms, to which her smile turned loving. "If it weren't for Remus and now Teddy… I don't know Fleur. I honestly don't know what I would've done."

Well… that answer certainly hadn't been of much, if any, help to Fleur. Especially since Fleur couldn't tell Tonks that she was confused about her own feelings for Harry, even before his letter to her had come. Not with her wedding to Bill still on the horizon, or that Tonks _had_ been Harry's previous girlfriend, and—if Harry and Tonks' stories were any indication—the pair had been quite in love.

Fleur gently grasped Tonks' hand nonetheless and smiled softly, "Thank-you, Tonks… I know this eez strange for you, but eet 'az been 'elping me a lot." For her part Tonks merely coloured slightly, before waving off Fleur's thanks as unnecessary.

**(With Harry)**

Apprehensively, Harry approached the locket where Dobby had thrown it on the ground. It was still thrashing and twitching randomly on the ground like something possessed in a horror movie, only this was real. Which only served to add to Harry's nerves; he hated this, this not knowing what was going to happen or whether the sword he now held in his hands would really help, but there was only one way to find out.

Given that it was the locket of _Salazar-Bloody-Slytherin_ and made by _He-Who-Has-the-Face-of-a-Snake_ Harry felt it was a fairly safe bet that Parseltongue would be required to open it. Taking that bet, Harry ordered Dobby to stay back no matter what happened, and took a sturdy, fighting stance.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Harry hissed in Parseltongue, "_**Open**_" And the locket did just that, before Harry could even think a huge whirl of smoky-mist erupted up from the Horcrux and began to change shape. Almost like a Boggart, the mist changed into an image Harry both resented and feared.

Before him were an extremely naked Fleur Delacour, and an equally naked William Weasley. The pair smiling at each other, Bill's smiles almost lecherous as he took in Fleur's form. And then Fleur's voice, a breathy quality to it Harry hadn't heard before, gasped out, "Oh Bille! You are zo much better zan zat leetle boy 'Arry will ever be. I mean who could want zomeone like 'im when I could 'ave you?!"

Bill smirked at Fleur, and started to kiss her passionately. All the while Harry felt pain and jealousy rage within him. Harry could feel his heart breaking, as though a hand were holding it and slowly closing into a fist. Squeezing the myogenic muscle until it was fit to burst but never quite letting Harry's misery end.

Harry wanted to look away, to tear his eyes away as Bill came down on Fleur and Fleur's gorgeous voice went higher as she begged him to go harder, but Harry couldn't. Something in him, or maybe around him, was preventing him from pulling his eyes away from the display. All the while Harry could feel the pain in his heart growing.

'How can she… Fleur, I love you, but you… How can you stand there and—right in front of me?!' all these questions began to filter about in Harry's mind, but suddenly something occurred to him. This wasn't real. Fleur and Bill weren't and could not possibly be really here. It was the Horcrux. This was just a sick, twisted, horrendous culmination of Voldemort's sick mind. Nothing more.

That in mind, Harry steadied himself, poised the sword of Gryffindor in a firm grip, and charged at the locket. An almost feral roar escaping his lips as he brought the deadly, sharp, gleaming blade down onto the spasming locket.

When contact was made, it was as though a small explosion occurred, sending Harry flying onto his backside several meters away. (1 m. = 3.2 ft.) Gasping in air, as his own had been thrown from his lungs on impact, Harry pulled himself up to sitting then standing to rush over and see the now smoking locket that had once been a Horcrux. No longer moving at all, the locket simply smoldered.

A grin broke onto Harry's face, and then a chuckle escaped his throat, growing into a laugh as it came. "I did it!" he gasped out, "I destroyed another one!" Doing a quick mental count, Harry was glad that this meant he had three Horcruxes destroyed, and he of course knew where he was… so that left finding three more; and since he had the sword now, which would destroy them the hunt had become slightly easier. Speaking of… Harry turned and saw the sword lying beside where he'd been thrown to.

As he walked over to it, Harry looked over to Dobby and grinned, picking up the locket by its chain. "One down Dobby!" he exclaimed relieved. Dobby's tennis-ball sized, green eyes widened impossibly, as a squeak of excitement escaped the elf.

"Oh, great and wonderful Harry Potter; you have triumphed again over the bad snake man!" Dobby chirped excitedly, looking completely star-struck.

Harry shook his head as he came to stand beside Dobby, "No Dobby, _**we**_ destroyed the Horcrux and triumphed over Voldemort, _together_!"

Dobby's face lit up, and tears welled in his massive eyes as he launched himself at Harry once more, bawling happily. Utterly exhausted, Harry smiled and just hugged Dobby, glad to have a familiar face with him for once. Hunting more Horcruxes could wait until tomorrow, for now, Harry just wanted to sit with his friend.

**(With Bill): **

Bill Weasley frowned to himself as he returned home to Shell Cottage. It was quiet, but then again Fleur could be out or have flued over to her parents for an hour or so as she did occasionally. Bill shook his head happily; he still couldn't believe he'd ever gotten such a beautiful woman as his fiancé. He wouldn't change it for the world though; I mean how many blokes out there could only dream of having a girl like he did? And to top it all off, Fleur was not only beautiful on the outside, but she loved passionately too. One only had to watch her interactions with Gabrielle to see that.

Bill was worried about his lovely fiancé though. She hadn't been the same since July. Since Harry went missing, if he wanted to be exact. Bill was slightly worried by that because he was naturally protective of his woman, but Bill liked Harry and he knew that Harry wouldn't ever try and take his woman. Nor did he think Fleur would ever cheat on him with anyone, so Bill easily shoved those worries aside. What bothered Bill though was not so much his fiancés reaction, as it was his family's reactions to Harry at different points.

For someone who claimed to love Harry as her own son, Bill found his mum didn't seem too terribly worried with Harry—she was certainly worried, they all were—but she also seemed almost frustrated that Harry had left; annoyed, even. What bothered Bill more though, was an incident Fleur had brought up with him the other night, an incident from years ago when she had first met Harry.

Apparently, unknown to the rest of the Weasleys—and possibly to those that had still been at Hogwarts at the time—Bill's youngest brother, as well as several other boys from in Harry's dorm, had chucked Harry out. Not only chucked him out, but had done nothing to help Harry when the poor guy was being hexed, jinxed, cursed and pounded with rotten food. Bill had honestly felt nauseated when Fleur told him what his brother had been involved in.

Bill had decided he was going to have a serious talk about it with his family when he saw his parents, as well as Fred and George, this weekend. And it was _not_ going to be pretty. Bill well and fully intended to bring not only Fleur, but Remus and Tonks along as well. And that meant that there would be at bare minimum four people on Harry's side in spite of the seemingly random behaviour his family had been exhibiting since Harry's departure.

Glancing around the living room, Bill noticed that Fleur had been looking through the photo album Harry had made for her again. Bill felt his lips twitch at the photo it was open to, in the photo, Fleur was fussing with his hair as his mum was puttering about, and his brothers were laughing at some joke on the other side of the table. His dad was there, asking Hermione something about some Muggle thing or another, and Ginny was looking at their father in exasperation.

'Back then everything was so much simpler… Happier too' Bill thought to himself wryly. He missed large family gatherings like that. Even more so the rare times that occurred now when Charlie was with them. It didn't matter now though, they were at war with You-Know-Who, and that meant that Bill had people to protect before they would have any more family get-togethers.

Bill jumped a little, and grasped his wand but then smiled as the fire crackled green and Fleur stepped out. Still deciding to air on the side of caution, Bill pointed his wand at her and asked, "What did you say the first time we met?"

Fleur—used to being questioned by this point in the war—replied simply, "Your 'air eez razzer long" Bill rolled his eyes but nodded. Fleur kept her wand trained on him though as she asked, "Where deed you propose to me?"

Bill smiled fondly at the memory, "At a quaint little restaurant called the Breakers a couple streets off Diagon Alley, after dinner but before dessert." He replied confidently, to which Fleur smiled and lowered her wand.

The pair embraced, and Bill murmured, "I missed you today. Where were you?"

Fleur replied simply, "Tonks' waz over earlier, I went back to zeir place weeth 'er to 'elp 'er get Teddy settled, because Remus eez 'aving 'iz "Furry-leetle-probleme" at zee moment." She made air quotes around the furry little problem bit with her fingers, having stepped back from Bill. Her antics never ceased to amuse Bill in that way, she was so responsible but still capable of such childishness.

As Fleur started to get food underway for dinner, Bill cleared his throat and said, "This weekend, when we go to mum and dad's… I was thinking maybe we should bring up what you were telling me about with Harry and the Triwizard tournament…?" he trailed off, letting the question hang in the air.

Fleur turned to face him, a look of surprise shining in her ocean blue eyes, "You would do zat?" she asked.

Bill gave her a crooked smile that she remembered had always made her flustered when they'd first started working together. "I would do it even if I didn't think you wanted me to, beautiful."

Fleur felt a tear coming to her eyes as she smiled at him, "Zank-you, Bill. I would appreciate eet very much eef you would do zat."

Bill nodded, "Consider it done then." He said, before stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. Fleur tensed only a moment before relaxing into his familiar embrace. And yet, somehow having been thinking so much about Harry lately, and with the letter Harry had sent… Fleur couldn't help but feel guilty in her fiancés arms.

**AN:/ So what'd you think? I hope it was good, because you guys seriously are amazing for sticking with this story so long and I hope you realize I appreciate you're not abandoning me despite my assholeishness. Anyways, as always flames, reviews, suggestions, questions, comments, favourites, alerts, etc. are always greatly appreciated! And I hope the grammar has been getting better but if not, seriously message me… but try not to be too cruel about it, cause my pride can only be killed so many times at once. **

_**Next Time: Harry's still hunting, but is he going to find a Horcrux next or something—or someone—else entirely? Will Hermione, Neville and Ron manage to keep Hogwarts together? What about the other professors who aren't douche nozzels? Will Fleur talk to Bill about the letter from Harry? How will the dinner with the Weasley's play out? And a bunch of other stuff I haven't thought of yet! **_


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:/ Hey guys… so it's been awhile—my bad as always—but I did manage to get this installment done before July which is good. There won't be an update until August at the earliest because I will be elsewhere. Thanks for putting up with my slow as a slug pace of updating! I won't keep rambling, so enjoy the chapter!**

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, the characters, locations, spells, etc. Nor will I ever own it. **_

**(With Harry)**

Harry frowned. It had only been two days since he destroyed the locket… but now he was back to square one in a way. He may have destroyed the locket and found a way to destroy the rest of the Horcruxes, but Harry had no inkling whatsoever of where to begin looking for the other Horcruxes. Sighing, Harry glanced at the grey sky; the light was just beginning to fade, signalling a day's end.

Before Harry could contemplate anything else though, Dobby popped beside him. Harry jumped—as he always did when Dobby arrived—and drew his wand. Dobby said simply, "A levitation spell on a cake, Harry Potter sir!" Harry nodded and lowered his wand. It wasn't likely that any death eater would even think of trying to potion into Dobby, but the hunt was making Harry paranoid. The whole war was.

Harry smiled wearily at Dobby, "What brings you round, Dobby?" he asked.

Dobby blinked his large, tennis-ball green eyes at Harry and said, "A letter from Missus Amelia, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby announced as he produced a piece of parchment. Harry blinked, Amelia didn't usually write unless she had news on the war of direct importance to him.

Thanking Dobby, Harry opened the parchment and began to read; eyes zipping across the neatly written script he'd become familiar with through working Amelia.

_Mr. Thompson,_

_ I hope this correspondence finds you well; it has come to my attention in my enquiries, that what you were inquiring to me about is available at Gringotts. It is not, however, something you can retrieve without the correct key. A certain __**strange**__ woman has the key. I am uncertain of how you will be able to retrieve the key from her as she is rather difficult to negotiate with, but at the moment that is all I have for you. Also a certain woman of change has been asking after any information on your whereabouts. I do hope you consider assuring her you are okay._

_Stay safe, _

_Madame Bones, _

_Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

Harry re-read the letter once to work out the references to different people Amelia had made. The pair had developed a system of sorts to code who was being discussed.

'Let's see… What I inquired about is a Horcrux, a 'strange' woman means…Bellatrix Lestrange…and a woman of change is…Tonks. So there's a Horcrux in Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts and Tonks is asking about me. Bloody brilliant; I'm going to half to break into Gringotts. The goblins will love that.' Harry grumbled.

Turning to Dobby, Harry smiled. "Well, it seems like Amelia found us a Horcrux." He said, this caused the elf to give a startled squeak; Dobby was by no means a fan of the idea of hunting Horcruxes, but the elf was a trooper, remaining with Harry constantly.

Dobby asked, "Where is Missus Amelia wanting you to go to get it?" Harry blew out a slow breath, Dobby wasn't going to like the answer to that question.

"It's… Dobby it's in Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts…"he began slowly. Dobby let out a yelp.

"Harry Potter must not be trying to go into the bad woman's vault! Speak not here name, sir, please! Dobby mustn't let Harry Potter try to do such a thing! And the goblins will be giving Harry Potter much trouble if he is trying to take things from them!" Harry cut in by this point.

"Dobby," he began. "Dobby!" he exclaimed louder when Dobby didn't hear him. Dobby, giving a jolt, stopped talking and turned his green orbs to Harry's face.

"Dobby, listen to me. I promise, I'll find a way to get the Horcrux and get out alive, you won't have to worry about Bell—er, her at all." Harry said, catching himself before he said Bellatrix's name. "I don't know how, but somehow the two of us will think of a way to do this, Dobby. Amelia can't do much else for us right now; she has Susan and being head of the DMLE to be worrying about. Emmeline is doing the best she can for us already… I don't know what we are going to do Dobby but we'll think of something, I promise." Harry said voice more sure than he felt.

Dobby looked as uncertain as Harry felt, but the elf nodded nonetheless, "Of course Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby chirped voice higher than usual do to his nerves.

Harry sighed wearily as he tried to figure out what to do. How was he going to get a Horcrux out of Bellatrix's vault without messing up so much so that not only the goblins but Bellatrix herself realized what he'd tried to do? Shaking himself Harry re-read Amelia's letter and tried to figure out the best way to tackle every issue she'd given him one step at a time.

'First things first then…' Harry thought. 'I need to plan to break into Gringotts… but who could possibly help me with that…?' he mused, frustrated beyond belief at just where Mouldy-shorts had opted to have this Horcrux hidden.

Grumbling Harry spoke aloud, "Not like the goblins would just let me into a vault if I claimed a Horcrux was in there." Dobby, whom Harry had momentarily forgotten was present, respond after a moment, causing Harry to jump, and reach for his wand.

"Dobby could be trying to convince the goblins of the bad magiks" the elf said slowly. Harry blinked several times.

"Dobby, I can't ask you to do that!" Harry exclaimed, startled. "The goblins could report you to Volde—Tom!" Harry barely caught himself saying the, as Harry had discovered the hard way, taboo name before using the more Muggle version. 'At least the Muggle version will piss the dark wanker off.' Harry mused before turning back to Dobby.

Dobby puffed up his tiny chest as much as he could, and attempted putting on a brave face. "Fear not oh great and wonderful Harry Potter! Dobby can be doings any dealings with the wrinkly ones that Harry Potter be needings!" the house elf exclaimed proudly.

Harry could not believe his ears. Dobby was terrified of the entire Malfoy family, including Mrs. Malfoy's sister, so for him to volunteer to help go against Bellatrix… and to _steal_ from bloody Gringotts Bank… "Dobby, thank-you, truly, but I can't ask you to do that."

Dobby gazed at Harry; large, tennis-ball green eyes looking sadly into emerald ones, Dobby sniffled a little, wiping his nose on his oversized, neon-orange jumper, before speaking. "Harry Potter sir, you is be being too kind to Dobby! Dobby never knew that a wizard so great as you could be existing! To think of Dobby's safety…" Dobby trailed, off seeming to be holding in tears. Whether they were of joy or sorrow, Harry did not know.

Gingerly, Harry reached out and pulled Dobby gently into his arms. Dobby let out a wail of anguish into Harry's grey jumper as he sobbed. Harry was silent, but held Dobby a little closer. 'Thank Merlin for warding.' Harry thought absently as Dobby's sobs seemed to get louder if shorter as time slowly ticked on.

Harry didn't know when his thoughts started to drift from the current events and the crying house elf in his arms to other people. So many people he had lost, who he wanted to protect still but didn't know how to.

'Mum… Dad…Sirius…' Harry thought as a wave of pain surrounded his heart. 'Fleur… Hermione…Ron… Tonks…Hedwig…Lupin…Neville…Luna…the Twins…' Harry's mind broke away from the world as he saw the smiling faces of his friends pass through his mind, turning into looks of pain and terror. For Harry it was as though the air was leaving his lungs, sticking them together; empty.

Dobby was still sniffling into Harry's jumper as Harry's focus slowly re-centered on his current situation. Harry absently noticed that his left hand had inadvertently started rubbing Dobby's back while the tiny creature had let out his anguish and Harry had gotten lost inside his own.

It was getting dark out now, the light slowly fading from the sky. Harry gazed out at the trees, the shadows stretching out and elongating, like tendrils reaching out to grip he and Dobby in their darkness. Harry shivered a little, although Dobby seemingly took no immediate notice. The way the light touched only the tops of the trees casting coldness onto the forest floor unnerved Harry, it was like slowly being lowered into cold water, and then remaining in it for hours.

Deciding to fix the problem of being chilly before he or Dobby caught any kind of illness, Harry looked down to ask Dobby if he wanted to go inside the tent Harry had managed to get off Emmeline several weeks previous. However, upon gazing down, Harry found that Dobby had cried himself to sleep in Harry's arms. Shaking his head affectionately at the tiny elf that had become one of his closest friends Harry adjusted his grip on Dobby and stood before walking them both into the tent.

**(The Burrow)**

Arthur Weasley smiled tiredly as he gazed about his home. His wife in the kitchen cooking up a storm as she often did, his eldest son chatting happily with his fiancé, the twins causing a laugh riot of some fashion with Tonks, who was holding Teddy in her arms, as Remus gazed at his wife and child happily. Yes, this was the sort of thing that warmed Arthur's heart during such horrendous times; his family, or at least most of it, gathering together for a meal and spending time together.

Molly hummed some tune to herself as she cooked, and despite the off-pitch tune, Arthur smiled. His wife may not be what many pureblood's would consider ideal, as Molly was not of the same 'caliber' as someone like Narcissa Malfoy, but Arthur couldn't be happier. Arthur loved his wife, and she loved him; that was enough for him.

Just as he gazed around the room, Molly exclaimed loudly, "Alright everyone! Dinner is ready!" and with that declaration, conversation temporarily ceased and everyone made their way to the dinner table.

Molly just setting the food down on the table as they all took their seats. Arthur took his usual seat at the head of the table, Bill on his left, and Remus on his right; each with their respective wife/fiancé on their other side. Fred and George were sitting across from each other at the end of the table, Fred next to Fleur and George beside Tonks. A relatively small crowd for the Burrow, but Arthur couldn't help but be comforted by it.

Molly sat down at the opposite end of the table from Arthur and smiled, "Dig in!" she chirped pleasantly, to which everyone started passing dishes about, filling their plates with food.

"Pass the potatoes George, ole boy?" Fred asked, grinning like an idiot—which left Arthur with the distinct feeling a prank was about to ensue—as George regarded his twin skeptically.

"Of course Fred, ole chap!" George replied jovially before passing the dish of mashed potatoes to his brother. No sooner had George touched the potatoes then several people at the table flinched almost to the point of ducking.

Of course when this occurred both twins grinned at each other, laughing. Arthur shook his head. No doubt they had intended to make everyone jumpy and had no actual prank set with the potatoes. Clever perhaps, but ridiculous to no end.

The rest of the meal passed fairly civilly, the only exception being Teddy upchucking a bit on Molly when she offered to hold him so Tonks could eat with two hands. This of course resulting in the twins, and Tonks herself, laughing as quietly as they could manage.

Following the meal however, Bill spoke before anyone properly got up to leave. "Sorry to keep everyone," he began. "But there's something rather… pressing, Fleur and I felt needed to be addressed." Everyone blinked looking at Bill in surprise. It was not often the eldest son made any kind of formal announcement.

"Well, what is it then?" Molly asked, clearly anxious to find out what her son and his fiancé had been 'hiding' from her.

"It's about Harry actually," Bill began, causing everyone to stiffen. "You see—"

"You two know where he is?!" Molly demanded, cutting Bill off. This caused her eldest son to sigh.

"No mum," Bill spoke tiredly. "What I was going to say is that Fleur and I were talking about Harry's fourth year and some interesting incidents came to light during that conversation." Bill looked each of the people at the table in the eyes at that point.

"What"

"do you"

"mean"

"'incidents'?"

Fred and George asked in their somewhat bizarre 'twin speak' as Bill called it. Bill rolled his eyes at their 'language' it was creepy as hell in so many ways how they always knew what the other one was going to say.

"Wat 'e means eez zat 'Arry waz not treated proper when 'e waz een ze tournament!" Fleur said vehemently, anger flashing through her blue eyes. The twins looked mildly affronted at this, whilst Tonks looked at Remus alarmed, Remus seeming to have known something about this just looked angry.

"Bill," Arthur said slowly. "Would you care to explain what exactly is meant by 'not treated proper'?" the question hung in the air like water on a leaf for a moment before dripping to the floor.

"When he was chosen as champion," Bill began. "Apparently Harry wasn't exactly well supported by the Gryffindors, or any of Hogwarts for that matter." Arthur's eyes widened at this. He had expected Harry to have all kinds of support from his fellow lions and his peers.

"Actually most of the school was quite brutal to Harry when he was chosen; claiming him as trying to steal Diggory's glory." Bill's voice was calm, but there was franticness in his eyes as Fleur stood at his side, radiating indignance. The quarter-Veela was not impressed with being brushed aside in favour of having Bill recount what she had told him.

Arthur frowned deeply at this. "Surely Ron and Hermione told people to back off, Bill." The eldest Weasley said, firmly believing in his son's friendship with Harry.

Bill looked at his father with a slight amount of hesitance in his eyes but finally said, "Dad, Ron was one of the ones that blatantly attacked Harry; Hermione was fine I think…" he trailed off looking at Fleur for conformation.

Molly yelled suddenly, startling everyone. "YOU!" she screeched, pointing at Fleur. "You hussy! How dare you! Trying to claim that my Ronniekins was cruel to Harry during that awful tournament; it was probably YOU that was cruel to him!" The Burrow shook with the force of Molly's screeches.

Fleur stared at Molly aghast for several long moments, during which the plump woman continued her tyrannical screaming. Outraged at Molly's accusations Fleur felt an ancient magik start to flow through her veins. 'Mon Dieu! Maintenant… après tout ce temps?!' Fleur thought, eyes widening as she realized what the magik was.

Terrified, Fleur clutched the edge of the table with her hands _hard_. Tremors and trembles shook Fleur's body against her will as she tried desperately to calm herself. The room swam around her and yells became a muddled mess of indiscernible noise. Fleur felt her breath coming in fast pants; heart pounding inside her chest. Fleur's legs felt weak as they shook under her, but she could feel a different kind of power seeping into them.

Around her almost no one took note of Fleur's present situation. The Weasleys engrossed in their own arguments, Remus trying to contain his own outrage at the things being shouted. Tonks, however, saw Fleur gripping the table as though her entire being depended on it; panic and concern instantly coursed through Tonks who, still holding Teddy, stood and jumped over the now cleared off table. This of course, caught Remus' immediate attention, as well as the twins, spurring the three of them into action as they rushed to Fleur's side. Bill and Molly facing the other way didn't see any of this, and their own bodies blocked Arthur's vision of anything transpiring further down the table.

Tonks, holding Teddy in one arm, reached out to touch Fleur's trembling shoulder, to which Fleur flinched. Tonks said softly but urgently, "Fleur are you okay?! What's wrong?!" Tonks eyes were flipping rapidly through all the colours of the rainbow and then some with her worry. Red, green, violet, yellow, brown, blue, grey, orange, and so on they went; pattern-less but ever changing.

Fleur tried to shake her head but contracted forward from her abs, eyes squeezing shut as she tried to contain what she knew her anger had sparked. Fleur felt her back muscles seizing up, jerking at random moments. Spasms wound through Fleur's flesh; twisting her body in painful arches and corkscrews that left her breathless.

Remus spoke with panic clear in his voice "Fleur! Have you been bitten by any kind of creature recently?!" Fleur managed to shake her head once negative, but let out a strangled sound as she felt feathers starting to push out from the back of her neck where her hair line ended.

The final three Weasleys having finally noticed Fleur's dilemma, rushed to her. Bill was at her side asking question upon question. Fleur could barely hear them anymore though. Blue eyes flying open as Fleur realized there was no way she was going to be able to stop the magik coursing through her.

Desperate, Fleur bolted to the door, running as fast as she could manage with her flailing limbs. Fleur only made it 20 meters (65.6 feet) outside the Burrow before she fell to her knees and begun shaking with seizure-like spasms.

The others having raced out after her, Tonks instinctively having held Teddy in her arms as they ran after the shuddering blonde, watched horrified as Fleur fell to the ground. Before they could reach her though a blinding flash of magic surrounded her and Fleur let out a urethral scream; her usually beautiful, melodic voice, sharpening and raising pitch to a salient cry.

Feathers, long and silvery-white burst forth from Fleur's skin, her body shape morphing into a more bird-like structure, legs elongating, feet changing shape. A kind of hard beak formed on Fleur's face in place of her mouth and nose, her eyes shifted from ocean blue to cobalt; piercing and penetrating in their gaze. From her back large, angelic wings sprouted, long and graceful. Her usual blonde-white hair replaced by feathers that framed the angles of her new face and beak.

The Weasleys and Lupins stared at Fleur in stunned disbelief as she rose into the air; the males unable to prevent themselves from becoming enraptured by her aura, were rendered useless. Tonks turned to look at Molly, at a loss for what to do.

Molly turned wide, horrified eyes back at Tonks and sputtered, "What…. What IS that?" there was horror in Molly's voice to which Tonks was confused.

"Molly, you know that Fleur's a quarter-Veela, right?" she asked carefully. Molly huffed, "Of course I know that, the hussy!"

Tonks tried to maintain civility as she said, "Then isn't it a little obvious what's happened to Fleur?" Molly blinked once, then twice before replying.

"That-that _thing_ up there is a Veela?!" Molly demanded shock evident in her voice. Tonks nodded.

"And seeing as these blokes," Tonks gestured to the glassy-eyes males around them. "Are sodding useless at the moment, we'll have to help Fleur ourselves." The redhead nodded at Tonks and, to Tonks' horror, promptly raised her wand and aimed it at Fleur.

"NO!" Tonks shouted grabbing Molly's wand just as the woman began an incantation. Molly stared at the metamorph in disbelief.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Molly hissed. Tonks scowled, looking Molly dead in the eye as she replied.

"I mean that if you fire you'll hurt Fleur!" Tonks snapped. Tonks was alarmed at how unfazed Molly seemed by that prospect. "Molly," Tonks said. "We need to figure out how to calm Fleur down enough that she can reverse the transformation."

Molly was about to respond when suddenly Fleur let out a screech that sent chills down both women's spines. Molly and Tonks eyes both went wide as Fleur suddenly had a very large fireball forming in her hand; the flames licking upwards containing hints of blue.

Tonks panicked as Fleur turned herself to face Molly, seemingly to take aim. Unable to think of anything else, Tonks yelled, "Fleur!" This seemed to have no instantaneous effect, causing Tonks to fear they really would have to curse Fleur. The metamorph was saved that action though as Fleur turned her head to look at Tonks, fire still firmly pointed at Molly.

Tonks shuddered inside at the eyes looking back at her. 'So cold…' Tonks thought. The body may have been Fleur's but the light and warmth was gone. Warm blue pools replaced by frigid glacier eyes. Tonks bit her lip and glanced at Remus who stood mesmerized beside her. 'Bullocks! The one time his knowledge on magical creatures was needed here and he's stunned.' Tonks thought irritably.

As Fleur was still gazing at her Tonks spoke the first thing she could think of, "Don't fire on us!" wincing slightly at the pleading tone to her voice, Tonks spoke clearer. "Please, Fleur you don't want to do this. I know you don't." this seemed to have no visible impact on the Veela in the sky, so Tonks opted to try a different tactic.

"Think about Harry!" Tonks called out, ignoring Molly who looked at her as if she were insane. However, that caught the Veela's attention undeniably. The flames dimmed in Fleur's hands as the Veela turned to fully face Tonks.

Sweating nervously, Tonks continued, "Fleur, we both know that Harry would never want this for you… He wouldn't want you feeling rage like this. Please… please Fleur, think about what you're doing. It doesn't have to be like this."

Fleur seemed to be considering this, but while this was happening Molly pointed her wand at Fleur and began another incantation, "Confrin—"

Molly never finished the spell as Tonks dove on top of the redhead. Rolling off, Tonks grabbed Molly's wand and shouted at the woman, "Are you _**insane**_?!"

Molly looked thoroughly pissed as she made to stand, but Tonks pointed her own wand at Molly and muttered, "Stupefy" Shaking her head at the now stunned woman, Tonks turned back to Fleur, seeing the Veela once again with fire in her hands, Tonks quickly backpedalled.

"Wotcher Fleur," she said. "Look I know Molly's being… well let's go with a banshee, but think about Harry. I, you know he loves you Fleur. Hell, _I _know he loves you. Harry wouldn't want this for you Fleur, not that Bill does either. You need to calm down Fleur, I know you didn't mean for this to happen but I need you to relax so you can go back to being your regular self. Please Fleur? Please…" Tonks trailed off. The metamorph wasn't certain, but she thought she might actually be getting through to Fleur.

Fleur started to seize up a little in the air, which Tonks was fairly certain was a sign of the transformation reversal beginning. "Come on Fleur," Tonks murmured. "You're one of my closest friends; I can't have you disappearing on me by transforming into a Veela permanently."

A bright light started to surround Fleur's Veela form causing Fleur to cry out again. The cries were different this time though, feebler. The light seemed to swirl, brightening to a degree that cause Tonks to have to avert her eyes.

When the light started fading Tonks looked up. Fleur was lowering to the ground slowly, all the traces of her transformation shedding away leaving only the quarter-Veela human form Tonks knew and recognized. The light of the magic ran upwards off Fleur like smoke dissolving into the air as Fleur finally reached the ground in a kneeling position, her knees landing softly on the Earth.

As Fleur turned back into her human state the effect of the Veela aura lessened and the males became slowly more aware of their surroundings. Tonks, not paying attention to the boys except for to thrust Teddy into a bewildered Remus' arms, rushed to Fleur and caught the blonde just before she slumped to the ground.

Tonks, panting, gasped out "Fleur! Are you okay?" but Fleur was out cold. Tonks sighed but, noting Fleur's current state of nudity, quickly shed her own jacket and wrapped Fleur's body in it before picking her up bridal style.

Turning, Tonks found the guys had come out of their stupor and, seeing Fleur's state, rushed over to try to help—barring Arthur who rushed to Molly's side. "Fleur!" Bill yelled, but Tonks glowered at him.

"She's unconscious, Bill. There's no need to yell." Tonks said flatly. Remus looked at her in concern, but before he could voice his thoughts Arthur called over to them.

"What happened to Molly?!" Arthur yelled over to them panic evident in his voice.

Tonks sighed, "She's fine Arthur; I stunned her because she was going to curse Fleur." Bill whipped his head to face Tonks and demand the obvious question.

"Why?" Bill demanded. Tonks blinked slowly once.

'Do they really not remember anything?' Tonks wondered bewildered. "Bill… Fleur transformed into her full Veela state… Your mum was going to attack her to try to get rid of that state." Tonks explained slowly.

"But that would mean… Molly would've killed Fleur if she hit her!" Remus said, startled by the revelation. The twins looked at each other alarmed by Remus' declaration.

"Mum was"

"going to kill"

"our lovely"

"French friend?" Fred and George asked in their usual 'twin speak'.

Tonks huffed, "Look, I'll explain later, we need to worry about Fleur at the moment." And with that the metamorph marched into the Burrow just as Arthur was _Enervating_ Molly, who was irate at having been stunned in the first place and even more so that Tonks was still in possession of her wand.

"**I don't know what she was thinking! I told you that hussy would never do you any good William! And what is Nymphadora thinking?! Bringing that thing into our house again?! And after she started such ridiculous tales about my Ronniekins!**" Molly's shouts rang out echoing in the night air around the Burrow. Tonks, easily hearing them as she carried Fleur towards the stairs, winced.

'Dammit Molly,' the metamorph thought angrily, hair turning black as the midnight of a new moon. 'Why do you have to be this way? Fleur tries so hard for Bill! And she didn't mean for or ask for any of this to happen!' Tonks felt the anger coursing through her veins. It was a sore spot for the young auror when people were discriminatory towards magical beings; especially those who were almost fully human anyways. This being a result of not only her marriage to and love for Remus, but also the bullying and comments she herself had had to and on occasion still had to deal with. Not to mention her friendship with Fleur.

Tonks glowered as she heard Teddy start wailing outside, having been woken up by the rapid action and now upset by Molly's banshee-like shrieks. Sighing Tonks was extremely grateful to reach the room Fleur and Bill usually occupied when they visited the Burrow for any length of time.

Gently laying Fleur on the bed, Tonks flicked her wand muttering, "_Accio_ Fleur's clothes". As the clothes landed on the bed Tonks swiftly dressed Fleur's prone form, being mindful of Fleur's modesty—and her own embarrassment—she looked away as much as possible.

It was only seconds later that Bill burst into the room. Tonks whipped around, drawing her wand and pointing it at the intruder. She lowered her wand slightly seeing who it was but frowned, "You could try to be quiet around your unconscious fiancé, you know." Tonks grumbled, hair still quite dark although more brown than black.

Bill ignored her and demanded, "Tonks what happened?!" Tonks blinked several times, considering the best way to answer that question.

"Bill, I've told you what happened. Fleur transformed into her Veela state; her _full_ Veela state. That's why none of you guys were able to help, her full state's aura is too strong and it mesmerized you lot. Your mum tried to attack Fleur and I stopped her and eventually got Fleur calm enough to reverse the transformation. That's all I know. We'll have to wait until Fleur wakes up to know anything else." Tonks replied.

Bill frowned, "They aren't taking it well." He said as Tonks turned back to Fleur.

"What—?"Tonks began.

"The others downstairs aren't taking Fleur's…change… well. Mum's pretty angry about it, and Remus is getting angry because Mum is angry." Bill said, but something is his tone made Tonks weary.

"And you?" the young auror asked, unsure whether she wanted to know the answer to that question.

Bill sighed tiredly, and sat down heavily on the foot of the bed. "I…I don't know really. To be honest, after seeing her like that… I don't honestly know if I can still marry her. I mean, how can I spend the rest of my life with someone that could turn into a Veela that causes me to lose all sense of self at any moment? How can I even consider that? She's not who I thought she was…Fleur never said anything about turning into one of those creatures, just that she had a minor amount of that type of blood in her heritage."

Tonks stared at Bill, mouth hanging open. "You-you…" Tonks paused and started over. "You absolute arse!" she yelled causing Bill to jerk his head up to stare at her. "How _dare_ you sit there and say that?! How can you consider marrying her my arse, you coward! Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me that you don't want to marry Fleur anymore over this? It's not like she planned this Bill! Fleur didn't have any more warning than you did that this was going to happen! I'm not even sure she believed it could happen! It's not something Fleur can control Bill! It's a personal dilemma that Fleur has had to deal with since birth, not some infectious disease!" Tonks was seething by this point; disgusted with Bill's behaviour.

Bill didn't get a chance to reply though before Remus was at the door with Teddy, finally quieted, lying in his arms. "I'm not interrupting am I?" Remus asked tentatively, seeing the current enraged state of his wife, and the stunned look on Bill's face.

"No," Tonks said softly but firmly. "No, you aren't interrupting sweetheart. Can I take Teddy from you please?" Bill was confused by the sudden mood change, but Remus seemed rather unfazed.

'Not that much seems to actually faze Lupin…' Bill thought to himself as he watched Remus calmly walk over to Tonks and gently deposit Teddy into his wife's waiting arms. Teddy didn't even stir as he changed parents, Bill noted idly.

Looking at Teddy, Tonks spoke. "I hope you make up your mind, and fast. But know this, if you break her heart, I won't be the worst person you'll have to own up to." And with that, Tonks left the room taking Teddy with her.

Bill blinked, 'What did Tonks mean by that?' he wondered. Looking at his fiancé lying on the bed, breath coming in somewhat steady inhalations and exhalations but the occasional gasp in between two breaths signifying the restless state of Fleur's body, Bill frowned deeply. What should he do? He knew his mother's view on Fleur, as well as the rest of his family's—much of which, but not all, aligned with his mother's. However, there was also the rest of the Order's views to consider.

Bill gripped his head with his hands and let out a frustrated sigh. 'I'm sorry Fleur…I don't want to hurt you but… I don't know what to do.' Bill thought as he looked at Fleur's angelic face.

**(Hogwarts)**

Minerva McGonagall was _not_ a happy woman at the moment. Most of the Hogwarts staff were appalled by the new 'regulations' put in place under Severus Snape's direction. Minerva scowled, 'Those ruddy Carrow twins are doing nothing to help either!' she thought angrily of the two Death Eaters currently torturing students in horrendous ways.

What was really killing Minerva though was her inability to do much in the way of helping the students. Certainly she could, and actively did, aid injured students and prevent as many students as she possibly could from being punished unjustly, but Minerva could not be in the classes taught by the Carrows, nor Severus. Thus, there was nothing she could do to help the students when they were injured or given 'detention'—If you can call it that anymore, Minerva thought darkly—by one of their 'professors'.

'It's a loose use of the title.' The Transfiguration mistress thought tartly, not wanting to compare herself nor the majority of the staff to the Death Eaters in the building.

Minerva was also acutely aware of the efforts of many of the seventh year students in attempting to aid the younger years, and, while she was fiercely proud of her students, Minerva was also shaken to her core with fear of what was happening to them for their dissention from the Death Eater regime.

It was no secret that Hermione Granger now bore the foul slur 'Mudblood' on her upper left bicep. Nor was it a secret that Neville Longbottom had several nasty lacerations criss-crossing across the planes of his back from various cutting curses and hexes; both of which created serious unrest within the house of lions. Many of Minerva's cubs were scared to death by what was happening, poor Dean Thomas, along with a great many other Muggle-born students, hadn't returned to Hogwarts this year out of fear for their lives.

Frankly Minerva was unsure about allowing Hermione to remain at the school given its current state, but when she discretely addressed the idea of leaving with Hermione the young woman was adamantly against departing. Minerva shook her head in exasperation recalling Hermione's impassioned response. '"Professor, it's bad enough that Harry decided to take off on his own and leave Ron and I out of the war effort. I am not about to go hide in fear of a bunch of prejudice, hierarchical bigots and leave the fate of my friends and loved ones up to hope and chance."

Minerva had been stunned at first by the boldness Hermione Granger of all people was displaying, but she also felt a great deal of pride in her cub's bravery surging through her. Hence Minerva had smiled and gently apologized for trying to suggest Hermione leave. However, given the more recent turn of events in the Ravenclaws… Minerva was worrying once more for her brightest student.

Luna Lovegood's abduction from Hogwarts had deeply disturbed the Ravenclaw house. Whilst they might not have been particularly kind or close to the quirky blonde, Minerva knew that having 'one of their own' taken was a traumatic experience no matter whom it was. Particularly for those in Luna's year and for the youngest Ravens who were terrified that they might be taken next.

Of course Minerva was most enraged by the lack of discipline of any kind being given to the Slytherin students. Not that she was expecting any form of equality under their new Headmaster, but honestly Severus openly urged the snakes to attack other houses. He had all but turned Hogwarts into a breeding ground for blood supremacy, political hierarchy and outright bullying among students. However, that did not mean Minerva had to like it.

Professors who weren't Death Eaters were also being restricted in their actions, and any who tried to oppose those restrictions ran the risk of meeting an untimely, and most likely unseemly, death. Minerva's heart clenched as she thought of Charity Burbage who had been killed before the year even started.

Poppy was taking the restrictions especially hard as often the Death Eaters would prevent her from healing clearly injured students, and Minerva knew just how much of a toll it was taking on her old friend. Rolanda hadn't returned to Hogwarts either, having opted to perform Order work full time instead due to her lesser known status as a Muggle-born. Minerva hadn't had a chance to properly correspond with Rolanda in weeks, almost two months now, and it made the already worried Transfiguration professor antsier.

Rolanda, Poppy and Minerva had all been great friends during their years in Hogwarts; a Gryffindor with Ravenclaw brains, and two Ravenclaws with Gryffindor-ish tendencies. Few students had had the gall to challenge the three of them given their not inconsiderable dueling capabilities from as early as 3rd year that had continually developed and become more complex as the years went on.

The three of them hadn't been separated this long since Grindelwald's time, decades before. Even then it had never been this long, it had only been a matter of two or three weeks; the first part of the current war Rolanda had stuck it out hiding with Poppy and Minerva at varying points, but never being separated this long. Minerva yearned to hear from Rolanda just to have confirmation that she was alright.

This of course meant Minerva was keenly aware of how Hermione and Ronald must be feeling at the moment, one of the integral members of their trio was off fighting Voldemort, and they were stuck at Hogwarts trying to fight as best they could from there. Minerva could practically smell the tension that surrounded the topic of Harry's whereabouts if it ever came up near Ron and Hermione. Which thanks to the Slytherins, it often did.

Minerva herself often wondered about Harry. Lily Evans and James Potter had been two of Minerva's favourite students, thus their deaths had struck her quite forcefully; Harry much like his parents, had also wormed his way deep into her heart. Minerva was terrified of whether her cub was okay, but it was almost worse for her because she couldn't outwardly show that around anyone.

Gazing out her office window at the night sky Minerva sighed, "Where are you Harry? I fear we need you now more than ever…" she whispered softly to the empty room. Thousands of kilometers away Harry Potter stirred briefly on his cot beside Dobby before falling back into a restless sleep.

**AN:/ And there's the chapter! Was it any good? Was there too much time spent on the Burrow? Reviews, favourites, alerts, etc. are always appreciated even if it takes me forever to do anything update-wise. I do read all of them, even if you just want to flame about the fic being dumb. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any questions/comments/queries/concerns feel free to PM me or review or what have you.**

_**Next Time: What will Bill do? How will Fleur react when she wakes up? Will Harry manage to get into and back out of Gringotts alive and intact? How will he do it? Who is going to save Luna? Will McGonagall and Poppy manage to hold down fort at Hogwarts? Will Hermione be forced to flee? Would Ron flee with her? Lots of things still need answering for sure!**_

**Regards**

**~GGUC**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:/ Hey guys; have I mentioned lately that I am SO SORRY this took SO LONG! I'm really, really, really (times infinity) sorry about that. I don't have a great excuse that I'm going to give you—frankly it's not your business—but know that I am sorry. Regardless, this is the next installment, and I hope y'all enjoy it! I won't drag this out any longer, so enjoy!**

_**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter, the characters, locations, etc, etc. Nor have I ever, or will I ever. **_

**(With Luna)**

Luna Lovegood stared at the darkness of the dungeon she occupied. The Death Eaters had been by a while ago to torture her again, or at least attempt it, but they had still been unable to elicit a reaction from her. They had left her in a different dungeon than they did the last few days, muttering that maybe solitude would instill some proper fear in her. Luna's new location was as drab and dark as her previous one, except it was better lit due to the barred off window barely a foot wide and a foot and a half tall.

It was cold though, as the window allowed for cold fall air to seep into the room through the cracks. Luna didn't shiver though, as that would only encourage the Death Eaters further. She knew her hero was coming soon, any day now they would arrive. She still couldn't see who it was, but she knew her hero was on route to save her, and that made her smile and feel warmer inside despite the chill in the air.

Luna idly wondered how long she had been at Malfoy Manner, after all she, up until three days ago, had been kept in a dungeon with no window whatsoever and no consistent scheduling of food or visitation. Thus, she had no real concept of how long she had been in the dungeon. She remembered it had been September 23rd when she was unceremoniously taken from the Ravenclaw Common Room, but she didn't know what the date was now. For all the serene blonde knew it could be December, except, now that she had a tiny window to see out of she knew it was could only be as late as November as there was no snow outside.

The steps that led down to this cell were different, where the previous ones had come straight down steeply towards the dungeon; the new ones spiralled down towards the cell Luna found herself in.

Luna's hair was matted to her head, caked in dirt to the point of being nearly brown instead of its natural blonde shade. Luna's silvery grey eyes seemed duller in the dungeon light except when the Death Eaters came too near in which case they seemed to glow unnaturally in a perturbing manner that caused many a Death Eater to feel uneasy under their watchful gaze. That was another tactic Luna had developed during her years of being bullied at Hogwarts. Staring directly in to the eyes of her oppressor; watching every movement, every twitch of the eyebrow or inclination of the mouth.

The whimsical blonde had discovered at a young age that oppressive people wanted their victims to be just that: victims. The Death Eaters became less comfortable torturing someone who was staring at them with eyes that seemed to see into their souls. And, as a side effect of her seer abilities, Luna was capable of giving that effect with her eyes quite easily. Draco Malfoy in particular was highly susceptible to her stare.

Luna assumed it was because Draco knew her. Not well, and they certainly hadn't been friend, but they had gone to school together. And that boy was not like the rest of the Death Eaters. He still had a heart, even if he was too much of a coward to attempt to flee or make a stand for himself.

Luna was pulled from her musings by a scratching sound at the window. Whipping her head around Luna was surprised momentarily to see a bird on the other side, but not a groundling type of bird; a hawk. Its' golden eyes staring, piercingly through the grimy window and bars at her.

Luna smiled as she walked over to the window. Careful to be quiet Luna used the crack she had noticed in the glass to break the window open. Luna eyed the bars wearily, but the hawk used its' talons to slash them out of the way, leaving just enough space for Luna to squeeze through the window.

Using what little strength she had left, Luna hoisted herself up and through the window, wincing as a few piece of glass left shallow cuts on her abdomen and legs. When she was through the window the hawk dropped a sock from its beak before perching itself on Luna's shoulder. Luna smiled and grabbed the sock and braced herself.

The world swirled around the tiny girl and the bird before Luna released the sock and landed gracefully in a kneeling position on the forest floor. Standing with only a minor tremble in her legs, Luna spoke, "Hello Madame Hooch, thank you for coming for me."

**(With Harry)**

Harry groaned slightly as he came to. Dobby was still lying beside him on the cot curled into a small ball, much in the manner harry had seen cats do. Harry shook his head in vague amusement as he stood from the cot, being mindful not to wake the sleeping elf. Stretching, Harry heard a few clicks and pops as his joints protested to his movements. He may be awake again, but that didn't mean his body had to be happy about it.

Looking around him Harry wasn't surprised to see the light trickling through the side of the tent around him, it was morning again and a sunny one at that. It was rather funny, Harry mused, the way it could be sunny still in spite of all the chaos going on in the Wizarding world. 'And yet the Muggles somehow still haven't clued into the world right in front of them… A war going on in their world all around them, and still no one has figured it out…' Harry marveled to himself, wondering how the populace could be so naïve.

Dobby may be sleeping still, but Harry knew it wouldn't be long before they'd have to figure out where to go from here. Where could they go now? And how in Merlin's name was he supposed to break into _Bellatrix Lestrange's_ vault of all places and take out a horcrux?! Honestly, Harry was starting to wonder if there wasn't some higher power that just loved to torment him with seemingly impossible feats.

Harry quietly exited the tent and perched himself on a rather large rock near the tent still well within the warded range. Thinking was Hermione's forte, but she wasn't here right now and Harry wasn't completely stupid all he needed was some time to think. Not that it was going to be easy, Harry was all too aware that getting inside a Gringotts vault that wasn't his own was going to be near impossible. To get in _and_ out? Preposterous.

Harry stared unseeingly into the forest around him, allowing himself to tunnel deep into his mind, unconsciously using the bits and pieces of occlumency he'd somehow managed to scrape together from what he'd learned to go deeper into himself than any usual thoughts would require. Thinking, for the first time, from the bottom instead of the surface of his mind.

Half an hour passed before a memory flitted through Harry's mind, 'The Prophet!' Harry thought shooting up from his previous position. "Why didn't I think of that before…?" Harry murmured to himself. Shaking his head he went back into the tent and gently shook Dobby awake, "Dobby?" he whispered. Almost instantly the little elf leapt up.

Speaking rapidly the wide-eyed elf questioned, "Harry Potter, sir! Yous be needings Dobby?!" Harry motioned Dobby to sit down, to which Dobby immediately complied.

"Dobby, can you… could you get an old newspaper for me? A specific one from a specific date?" Harry asked slowly, not sure whether it was even possible. Dobby rapidly nodded.

"Yes, Harry Potter sir, Dobby's be being able to do that." Dobby chirped happily. Harry grinned a little.

"Brilliant. Listen, I remember back in my first year Quirrell, he tried to break into Gringotts after Hagrid and I had left already. It was in the Prophet later, but not until September. I don't remember the specific date but could you find me that issue? It's from September 1991."

Dobby nodded excitedly. "Yes! Dobby's will be goings now to get the papers for Master Harry, sir!" And just like that Dobby was gone. Harry shook his head in disbelief at Dobby's shear level of energy, he couldn't fathom how Dobby did it, but he did.

'Hopefully there'll be some kind of details about how the attempt was made…' Harry mused. Turning to look around him Harry sighed, he may as well get started on food, but he wasn't really hungry at the moment. More than anything Harry just felt lonely. Sure, he had a few people he'd been seeing but it just wasn't the same.

Dobby was a huge comfort, being someone familiar Harry knew for going on six years now. And Amelia had been a comfort to have around as well, especially since she kept him vaguely updated on what she knew of the happenings at Hogwarts—It appeared despite everything going on there Susan tried her best to keep her 'Auntie Amelia' updated—and Amelia had also taken to giving Harry bits and pieces of updates on Tonks status—as well as any other Order members she knew of—for which Harry was grateful, as well as, of course, keeping an eye and an ear open for any information on the whereabouts of the Horcruxes. However, Harry simply did not know Amelia well enough to gain much comfort from hearing from her.

Emmeline had been keeping Harry up to date on Order activities that Amelia was not party too—although Harry was sad to hear that the Order really was falling apart without Dumbledore to lead. Harry sighed; he hadn't seen many people since his departure in August. And it was killing his heart being away from them all, but he knew he had to do this. He had to fight this fight to protect those he loved.

Harry frowned as he thought of the order. They were in desperate need of a proper leader from what he'd heard last time he spoke to Emmeline. The problem was that one, Snape knew who all was in the Order—Harry's hatred for the man burned deeper than ever these days—two, no one had the strong desire to take up the mantle Dumbledore used to hold, and three, all the likely candidates for the post were rather preoccupied. McGonagall was more than busy trying to keep some semblance of humanity at Hogwarts, Kingsley was tied up at the Ministry, as was Arthur Weasley, Mad-Eye had been killed in August, Molly may shout a lot but she wasn't a war leader by any stretch of the imagination, and Remus had his furry little problem as well as a new family to handle leadership was not his priority. So no one was leading.

Harry sighed, and since no one was leading the order really wasn't doing as much as they could, and probably should be doing—considering they were pretty much all that the light side had right about now. Harry had hoped, not really expecting it to amount to anything, but he had hoped the Order would've been spurred into further action by Dumbledore's death. But it appeared not. They were content to continue with their recruiting efforts while Voldemort was starting the fight.

'Well… those of them in charge are content to recruit at least…' Harry mused, thinking of Tonks and Emmeline. They may be very different women but they were both feisty for sure, 'Not to mention Fleur… she's a force to reckon with on the best of days.' Harry thought, almost pitying those who ended up on the wrong end of Fleur's wand. Almost.

Harry shook his head, there was no way the Order could fight all the Death Eaters and Voldemort alone if only based on strength in numbers, the Order of the Phoenix was simply put, lacking. Harry wished he could yell at them all some days after he got updates from Emmeline, who herself felt that the Order was almost pointless by this point because they were still too weak and not doing enough to have any real impact. Harry wanted to help the Order, much in the same way he longed to go to Hogwarts and save his friends, or rush to find out where the Death Eaters had taken Luna, but he couldn't. And knowing that was killing him.

When Dobby had brought a message from Amelia where she noted that Susan had informed her that a certain Luna Lovegood had been taken by the Death Eaters, Harry's first instinct had been to find the nearest group of Death Eaters and try to make them tell him where Luna was, but Amelia's note had also warned him not to do anything stupid—clearly she knew him too well already—and apparently she had given Dobby instructions to make sure Harry didn't race off after anyone.

Harry, hours later, had finally calmed down enough to hope that at the bare minimum McGonagall or Neville had done or started to do something. Harry knew McGonagall most likely had her hands tied in the matter, but he knew Neville, and he knew that Neville was not going to take Death Eaters abducting Luna sitting down.

Harry began pacing absentmindedly as his thoughts drifted to the whimsical blonde. Luna was definitely one of a kind. Harry chuckled to himself as he thought of his friend. He didn't understand why people felt the need to be so hateful to her, sure Luna was odd, but so was he and pretty much everyone else on the face of the planet. The only difference was that Luna wasn't afraid to let her peculiarities show.

Harry felt a heavy weight sink into his heart and laying on his mind as he thought of Luna taken by Death Eaters to Merlin knew where being subjected to God knew what. 'Luna was always braver than the rest of us…' Harry thought to himself, tears pooling behind his eyes. Harry remembered the time he had had with Luna in May of his 5th year at Hogwarts. The first time he saw the real Luna.

_It was a bright, sunny Sunday morning at Hogwarts. Warmth was finally in the air and it was still early enough that none of the students—save Hermione—were overly concerned with the impending O.W.L' s, N.E.W.T's or just regular exams yet. Harry, however, was not enjoying the spring warmth; he was in fact feeling rather cold today. It was arguably the worst day of the year for Harry. _

_Mother's Day: the bane of his existence since before primary. Harry remembered how awful Vernon always made Mother's Day for him. How much he went out of his way to ensure it was abundantly clear that Harry had no mother. How Harry's mother had been a nothing. A drunk. A whore. Whatever insults Vernon, or Petunia for that matter, could come up with. No, Mother's Day was not a good day for Harry James Potter. _

_This year was no exception, ever since his first year Harry had taken to making himself scarce on Mother's Day. Most students either went to Hogsmeade to meet up with their mothers, or flooing home to visit for the day—as was custom at Hogwarts. Harry, this particular year, opted to spend some time alone in the forest. Harry had woken up early like every year just to avoid seeing anyone or receiving their pity. Harry loathed pity. _

_Once in the Forbidden Forest Harry found a comfortable clearing not too far in and smiled sadly as he saw some Thestrals nearby. He hated how he could see them even if they were kind of cool looking. One of the nearer ones flapped its leathery wings a little, snorting, before strolling over to another one. _

_Harry shook his head fondly as he sat down on a stump in front of a rather tall tree. Leaning back into the tree Harry closed his eyes and tried his hardest not to think about what day it was, or rather to think of the fact his mom was dead. Harry focused all the energy he could into not thinking about his mom, trying desperately not to hear Lily Potter's screams echoing in his mind. _

_Harry's concentration was broken when he heard footsteps crunching on the gravely rocks that lead to the clearing's entrance. Sitting up and opening his eyes, Harry's hand automatically gripped his wand when he saw who it was. "Luna?!" Harry exclaimed, surprised. _

_There, entering the clearing was none other than Luna Lovegood, wearing a pair of black cut-off jeans that ended half way down her calf, a blue t-shirt with some kind of silver raven on it, and a black, laced-up sleeve-like thing over either elbow. Harry was surprised. He didn't think he'd ever seen Luna in clothes like this before, especially without her radish earrings or butterbeer cork necklace. It was rather startling. _

_The blonde smiled at Harry, but Harry could tell this smile was different. It wasn't serene like he was used to seeing from the blonde, it was sad, and lonely, and… like his. Harry was getting a bad feeling about this. Luna walked over and stroked one of the Thestrals lovingly, her back to Harry. _

_Finally, after several moments of silence, Luna turned around to face Harry. "I imagine you're here to avoid all the festivities, right Harry Potter?" Luna asked, only Harry was unnerved that her voice lacked its' usual surreal quality. Noticing Luna was still waiting for a response Harry responded slowly. _

"_Yeah… I, uh, I'm not too big on this holiday." The emerald-eyed boy spoke, however his attention was on Luna's eyes, or rather the dullness to the grey that he'd never seen before. Everything about Luna today was… different. Harry was fairly certain he didn't like this. The dullness in Luna's usually dilated eyes was unnerving. It was too harsh, too real to belong to Luna Lovegood. _

"_Luna?" Harry asked cautiously, he got a sort of 'mm-hmm' sound in return. "I…why are you here today?" He asked. Luna, who had turned back to the Thestrals, paused in her stroking of a Thestral. After a moment she spoke, not looking at Harry. _

"_I'm here for the same reason you are, Harry Potter." Her voice was soft, but not in the usual breathy way Harry was accustomed to hearing it. This soft voice, this quiet voice belonged to a girl in pain, and Harry hated it. _

_After a minute, what Luna had said as well as what that implied sunk in. "Luna…" Harry whispered, startled. The girl whirled around to face him then, and Harry could suddenly see all the things in Luna's eyes that he had never seen before. Anger. Fury. Hurt. Indignation. Sorrow. Hate. Fear. And pain. A lot of pain; more pain than Harry had ever seen before in one person. _

_Before he could speak Luna laughed bitterly, the sound cut at Harry's heart, "So now you know, Harry Potter. Now you know my secret. Tell me, will you tell Granger or that hateful Weasley first?! Or how about you just tell my whole house, I mean they are clearly lacking in insults for me these days!" Harry was taken aback. Never in his life would he have expected __**Luna Lovegood**__ of all people to be so angry; so cold._

_Luna wasn't done yet though. "Or how about you just use it to make jokes about me in DA? How about it?! I mean surely I shouldn't have a place where I don't have to worry about people insulting me! Or maybe you can use this to assure yourself that you don't have to worry, even without either parent you're still above Loony Lovegood, right?! So, tell me Harry Potter, what will it be today?" Luna spat viciously. _

_Harry all but gaped at her while the second slowly ticked by. Realization was fast dawning on Harry. This wasn't Luna acting peculiar, this was Luna Lovegood; the __**real**__ Luna Lovegood. The broken-hearted girl who was hidden behind all the fanciful creatures, the random off-topic questions, the staring off into space, and the dilated pupils. _

_Harry didn't know what to say so he did the only thing that came to him, what he had wished for his whole childhood every time he was sad and hurt, Harry took a step toward Luna and, not hesitating, he wrapped his arms around Luna and pulled her into a tight hug. Luna went stiff as a board in his arms for several long moments before suddenly he felt her shaking in his arms. Crying; probably for the first time in months if not years to someone other than herself._

Harry still remembered that day with great clarity as, even afterwards, there hadn't been another time he had ever seen Luna. Not the real one. It pained him to know how deeply guarded Luna was despite her aloof, extremely open mask. Yes, Luna did indeed believe in most if not all of what she said whilst wearing her mask, and certainly let all her quirks show, but she hid her real self from the world.

Harry shook his head, trying to clear the tears that were pooling in his eyes. It wasn't fair. Why was it always Luna that had to suffer? Why not some other random Ravenclaw student? But Harry knew why. Luna never would've allowed something to happen to one of the other ravens—even if she _did_ hate a lot of them for what they did to her—it simply wasn't in her nature to allow the others to be harmed. Harry vaguely wondered if Luna would've volunteered to go in place of another student. The raven-haired teen didn't think on it long though as he was too afraid that the answer could be yes.

Glancing around Harry wondered what Luna would say to him if she were with him now. Would she be able to help him? Harry snorted, of course she would. 'Luna may be a bit odd, but she is definitely a Ravenclaw for a reason… Although she probably could've been in any house really…' Harry mused. 'Luna's courage at the ministry could easily rank her Gryffindor and her compassion for all life plus loyalty is Hufflepuff… and then there's her ability to maintain that bloody mask. She has every Slytherin in Hogwarts beat, hands down.'

Harry, finally ceasing his pacing glanced at the scattered papers around the tent. Bits and pieces of parchment with different updates from Amelia and Emmeline… some of the most valuable information Harry had in his possession at the moment. And it all fit in one little pile. Harry frowned, he wondered what Fleur and Tonks were doing at the moment. He wondered about Hermione and Ron too, the other Weasleys, the DA, the Patil twins, McGonagall, Hagrid, Remus—Harry thought of everyone. Even Draco Malfoy. As much as Harry hated the ferret, he still had to wonder whether the blonde moron regretted being a Death Muncher now; when he was at Voldemort's mercy, most likely being tortured for every tiny error. Hell, even if he didn't mess up, if Malfoy was in the room at the wrong time he'd probably find himself under the cruciatus curse.

Harry shook his head, now wasn't the time to wonder about his school-yard nemesis. Now was the time to figure out how to get into Bellatrix's vault, without getting himself killed or worse, captured.

Harry's thoughts vaguely returned to Luna, knowing that she'd undoubtedly have some creature or another that was causing his mind blockage… Harry suddenly jolted upright. "Kreacher!" Harry exclaimed. A 'pop' sounded and suddenly the old elf was in front of him.

Kreacher was cursing Harry's existence almost instantly, "Stupid half-blood dares call Kreacher from his mistress… stupid half-blood traitor knows not of what he does…" Harry cut him off.

"Kreacher, as the new Lord Black you are required to obey me correct?" Kreacher began grumbling incomprehensibly under his breath to which Harry sighed. Kneeling down to be at eye-level with the elf Harry spoke again, "I don't want to have to do this Kreacher, but as Lord Black, I command you to answer my question truthfully."

Kreacher instantly spat, "Yes, Kreacher is bound to stupid half-blooded traitor. Kreacher must obey stupid half-blood thanks to foolish old master." Harry sighed exasperated.

"Thank-you, Kreacher." Pausing only a moment Harry continued, "Kreacher, as the elf of the Black family can you enter the vaults of any Black family member and make a withdrawal without getting in trouble?" Kreacher looked suspiciously at Harry but nodded slowly.

"Yes, all house elfs be capable of entering the vaults of their masters and mistresses." Kreacher said, eyes narrowing at Harry. Harry almost laughed out loud in relief.

"So if I asked you to retrieve something for me from the vault of another member of the Black family could you do it?" Harry asked. Kreacher scowled but nodded again.

"Yes, Kreacher be able to be doings." the elf said cautiously. Harry fought internally at these words.

'He's able to do it… but Kreacher won't. Not willingly. I'd have to order him to do something I know he doesn't want to… But it could save the world in the end from Voldemort… Dammit. Why couldn't Dobby have this ability…Why couldn't Voldemort have left it in Narcissa's vault or something?' Harry groaned he hated this.

Looking at Kreacher he spoke quickly, "Kreacher… Would you do it for me, if I asked you to retrieve an object from a specific vault? If I didn't order you to, but if I just asked would you ever do it?"

Kreacher sneered at the wizard before him, "Kreacher doing things for the half blood traitor? Never. Kreacher is loyal to his mistress and mistress no want Kreacher to help filthy half-blood traitors."

Harry sighed. He was going to have to do it, for the sake of the wizarding world and everything he held near and dear he would have to order Kreacher. "Kreacher I forbid you to communicate in any way any of what happened here or any other interactions you have had or will have with me to anyone else in any way, shape, or form. I also forbid you to take commands from Bellatrix, Narcissa, anyone who bears the Death Eater mark, Tom Riddle, or anyone else who works for or supports that side. Do I make myself clear?" Harry commanded.

Kreacher scowled, glaring hatefully at Harry. "Yes, Kreacher understands and will obey stupid half-blood's orders." Before Kreacher could disapparate away, Harry spoke again.

"Kreacher I'm ordering you to go into Bellatrix's vault. In the vault you will find a horcrux. Do you know what a horcrux is?" Harry asked. Kreacher, still scowling, nodded.

Harry continued, "I'm ordering you to take that horcrux and bring it to me here. Do not let anyone know you are there. Am I clear?" Kreacher glowered at Harry but nodded once. Harry sighed, "Thank-you Kreacher, go as soon as you can." And with that the old house elf disapparated away with a crack.

Harry sat down heavily. 'I hope this works…' He thought desperately.

**(The Burrow)**

Fleur stirred slightly in her sleep as Bill sat beside her, looking at his fiancé's angelic face. She looked so beautiful, so peaceful and serene in unconsciousness; not a trace of the Veela she had transformed into hours before. Bill had been sitting by her side for nearly two and a half hours now. The uproar from the main floor had finally calmed after the first hour, the twins having stopped in briefly to ensure Fleur was okay before departing the Burrow. Arthur too had come to check in on his son and future daughter-in-law briefly.

Molly was having none of it. The short, plump woman still fuming in the kitchen as she clattered around, horrified that her eldest intended to marry not only a French witch, but one that could turn into such a terrifying creature—and at random no less! No, Molly Prewett-Weasley was _not_ impressed. She was more vehement than ever that Fleur was not the woman for her son.

The part that worried Bill was that he was starting to see things his mother's way. It wasn't that he had suddenly lost all the love he had for Fleur, it was simply that, having seen what could happen to Fleur at seemingly any given moment, Bill worried about what could go wrong. After all, in her Veela form, Fleur had turned Bill into a mindless idiot, incapable of functioning without so much as a thought. It was more than a little daunting of a prospect; and not just daunting, it was downright alarming in many senses.

Bill also worried as to what may trigger the transformation. As no one knew what specifically had caused this one; Bill wondered whether Fleur might transform when they finally made love—Fleur having been insistent they wait until after marriage, a fact Bill was beginning to question—and if Fleur _did_ transform… how was he supposed to deal with it? What of any children they may have? What could children do to defend themselves if their mother transformed and rendered their father a drooling idiot?

Bill shook himself… 'Bloody Hell! Why now? Why Fleur? I hate this… I can't… Dammit. What am I supposed to do about this? I can't just keep dating someone who can turn me into a drooling idiot at any given moment! But…I love her. I can't break up with her when we're already engaged and I love her!' Bill scowled, this was tearing him apart.

Not to mention he knew if he stayed with Fleur his mother would have a conniption fit. As it was Molly practically wanted to throw Fleur out of the Burrow this instant, but Arthur had convinced her to let Fleur stay at least until Fleur awoke and everything could be explained. There had been fire in Molly's eyes as Arthur continued to wear her down until she finally conceded, much to everyone remaining at the Burrow's relief.

Bill may not have seen it, but based on the twins' re-enactment he was fairly certain Tonks had made a perfect exit with Remus doing his typical mild-mannered exit only with a bit more bite than usual. Bill shook his head to clear his thoughts before looking again at Fleur's face. Even without her bright blue eyes, Fleur was still a beautiful face; undeniably so. Bill could have spent hours just taking in the perfection of her face, but at the moment he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking of how he was most likely going to break this young woman's heart, for the same reason she was so gorgeous.

A Veela. Bill had been warned constantly by his mother, among others, that being with a Veela in the long term would garner him nothing but trouble. He had always brushed aside such comments with a cordial laugh; Fleur was only a quarter Veela anyways. Just enough to give her the undeniable beauty and a slight allure, but not enough to make her like those he'd witnessed at the Quidditch World Cup; that's what Bill had told himself. What he had believed.

'But she lied.' Bill thought, scowling. 'Fleur never told me that she was this uncontrolled. This dangerous.' Bill looked at Fleur's peaceful, if tired, expression and frowned deeply. His fiancé and she hadn't even forewarned him of these risks. 'And to think… if it weren't for Harry disappearing I'd already be married to her. And then what would we have done?' Bill thought in idle wonder.

Bill sighed heavily, placing his head in his hands. This was so hard. 'Why does it have to be so hard? Why couldn't I have fallen for a pretty _normal_ witch like any other bloke?' Bill questioned himself, coming up answerless.

Fleur was lucky, he mused, being oblivious to all of this at the moment. Not dealing with what he was now facing. His fiancé lay completely still on the bed, her chest rising and falling slowly with her deep breathing. Her long, wavy blonde hair spread out behind her head in a sheet.

Bill groaned. This was going to be hard for him. And her. It would be hard for everyone, he mused, but mostly him and her. Bill abhorred the way he already knew what he was going to do even though he didn't want to. He was going to break Fleur's heart, he knew that was what he would decide to do in the end, but a part of him was desperately grappling that notion; the largest part of his heart that was in love with Fleur. 

Bill couldn't believe this. How could this have happened? Just this morning the two of them had been at Shell Cottage discussing how to go about bringing up what had happened to Harry during fourth year… and now this.

Bill frowned. 'Harry…' he pondered. 'Fleur talks about Harry a lot… actually if it weren't for Harry I probably wouldn't be in this mess. We would be happily married, and this dinner wouldn't have happened, Fleur would never have become that-that thing.' Bill thought, anger rising inside of him.

'Why is it always about Harry with Fleur these days anyways? It's all she ever seems to be thinking about, where's Harry? I wonder if Harry's okay? Until I could just puke. I mean, honestly! I'm her _fiancé_! It should be _**me**_ that's always on her mind not Harry!' Bill could feel anger roiling inside of him now. Anger directed at Harry Potter.

Suddenly Tonks' words from earlier came back to him "_if you break her heart, I won't be the worst person you'll have to own up to._" The pieces were suddenly coming together all too fast in Bill's head. "No…" he whispered.

"No. Fleur wouldn't…she can't be… Merlin!" Bill exclaimed, terrified wonder in his voice. It was dawning on him in an all too horrifying way what Tonks' must've meant. Harry. Harry was in love with Fleur.

Rage boiled within Bill as this came to him. 'That-that egotistical arse! How _dare_ he! How could…? Why would…?' Bill shook himself. He could **not** deal with this right now. Harry Fucking Potter was _in love_ with his _**fiancé**_?! No. Bill was NOT going to deal with this.

And what of Fleur? Was _she_ involved with Harry somehow?! Was that why she always spoke of him? Why Harry had addressed her differently in his letters?! Bill's mind was reeling at this newest development.

'How _dare_ she! How dare that-that _**harlot**_ do this to me! ME! I'm far better than Harry will EVER be! I- I'm older, and stronger, and better-looking, and a pure blood, and employed as a curse breaker, and _here_! What does Harry Fucking Potter have that I don't?! Fame? Is that it?! Is it because he's the Boy-Who-Didn't-Die?! What does Fleur see in him?!' Bill's mind was racing as he tried to come to grips with this, but all he could feel was rage. Pure rage.

Looking at Fleur's unconscious form Bill glowered. Fleur would be in for quite the surprise when she awoke. Bill had made up his mind. He wasn't going to play second fiddle to some teenage celebrity. When Fleur awoke he would end their relationship and break her heart. It was time to show a Veela what it felt like to be on the receiving end of heartbreak for once, something many a man had longed to do. And by Merlin, Bill Arthur Weasley was going to do it, whether she wanted it or not.

**AN:/ So, who saw Madame Hooch coming as Luna's savior? (Don't lie, I know that probably shocked the hell out of most of you). I wanted to develop Luna's role, arc, whatever you want to call it, more in this chapter as well as getting some of what Bill's thoughts are in there. Any thoughts on that? Or on the scene between Luna and Harry for that matter? I promise I will get some more interaction between Harry and Fleur soon—and possibly some correspondence with some other people—but I felt that the actual horcrux hunt needed some development too. (It took me forever to figure out how Harry was going to attempt getting into Lestrange's vault). Who saw Kreacher coming? Or the idea of Quirrel's break in? (I was aiming to shock a few of you—I'm kinda hoping it worked)? Anyways, enough from me. I will do my best to update sooner! (Favs, reviews, alerts, etc. Are all greatly appreciated)!**

_**Next Time: Bill and Fleur fight it out! Will Harry get the horcrux undetected? What the hell is going on with Hooch and Luna? And what about Hogwarts? Or the rest of the Order for that matter? So many questions! **_

**Until then, hope you enjoyed,**

**~GGUC **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:/ So…I may be REALLY behind on updating this—have I mentioned I'm sorry?—but seriously, I really am sorry that it took so long to update. Shit happened. You all have ****2lip123456789 to thank for proverbially kicking my butt in gear. This chapter isn't as long as I'd usually do, but I really wanted to get **_**something**_** up for you guys because you've been waiting so long. Again, sorry. **

**Side note: I know that my stories have been having problems where names of characters have been randomly missing in sentences. I would like to be abundantly clear so people can stop sending me the same message. I KNOW. It's NOT something I did. I have NO IDEA why it happens because in the versions on my word processor the names ARE there. You may note that a lot of the time part of the name, ie. an " 's " stays or something or there are two commas or something, well that's because the name was actually there in my version and I have no fucking clue why it keeps happening. It's very frustrating, and I know you all**** hate it and I'm sorry. But I don't know why it's happening or even what's causing it. **

**Okay, that's my rant. Again, my apologies. Now, on with the part you've actually been waiting for, here's hoping it was somewhere close to worth the wait. **

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter the characters, locations, creatures, spells, etc. **_

**(The Burrow)**

Fleur groaned slightly, as her eyelids started to flutter. Her body felt like iron, and her head especially felt like there was cotton filling it. Fleur could feel the soft surface beneath her body and wondered how she had gotten to a bed. It didn't matter though as the memories of earlier came flooding into her mind.

The dinner with the Weasleys…trembling and losing control…her transformation… and Tonks…attempting to attack Molly…the fireball…Tonks' yelling—Harry. Fleur reeled as the memories assaulted her clouded mind. 'Zut!' Fleur mentally cursed as she realized what must have happened. Someone had brought her inside, presumably the Burrow, after she had collapsed from the strain of her transformation.

Fleur was terrified. She had never transformed before in her life, she hadn't even thought it was possible, given she was already 20 and hadn't had the experience before. Fleur hadn't ever shown any signs of transforming; the only Veela qualities she'd ever displayed were her allure, which was nowhere near as strong as that of a full Veela, her affinity for fire magic, her wand core, and, of course, her natural beauty. That was it. Fleur had never imagined she would transform. Even her mother and grandmother hadn't thought it would ever occur when Madame Maxime had expressed her concern when Fleur hit puberty in her second year at Beauxbatons.

What did it mean that she had suddenly transformed? She knew from speaking to her mother that even Apolline had only ever transformed a handful of times and most of those were not full transformations, but rather partial ones. And Apolline was a half Veela! Fleur frowned, trying to recall the last thing that had happened before she had transformed.

Struggling to remember, Fleur tried to recall what had happened, but her exhausted mind wasn't co-operating. The quarter Veela could already feel the heaviness of her body increasing as she lay there, struggling towards consciousness. The transformation had taken a lot out of her; from Apolline and Valérie, her grandmother, had told her the transformation alone took a large quantity of magik, and the first time was almost always initiated by an intense emotional response, usually of rage or anger.

The blonde frowned; most cases Apolline and Valérie had spoken of had involved transformations that had been preceded by several incidents of partial transformations. Also, it was unprecedented for the first full transformation to last long enough for the Veela, or part Veela in question to actually do much in their full form. The quantity of magik required to transform was so great that after the initial full transformation occurred most Veela did not remain in their new state for long, usually managing only a couple minutes before collapsing from the magical strain. So for her to have not only maintained the transformation for so long, but also have conjured a fire ball…was insane.

Fleur was struggling to fight for consciousness when all her bone-weary body wanted was to go back to blissful numbness of sleep. She couldn't go back to sleep though, she needed to wake up and find out what was going on and what had happened. She needed to know she hadn't hurt anyone, that everyone was okay.

With gargantuan effort, Fleur slowly peeled her eyes open. Her eyelids fluttered for several moments as she tried to get her crystal blue eyes to focus; easier said than done in some cases.

The room was blurry as Fleur attempted to blink the hazy fog out of her eyes. The ceiling seemed to resemble that of the Burrow, so Fleur guessed that was where she was. It seemed futile to attempt actual movement at the moment, so the blonde lay motionless on the bed, staring at the ceiling, hoping for enough energy to return to her so she might actually get up.

After several minutes of simply laying still, Fleur attempted to move her hand. When she tried to lift it her fingers twitched slightly and then her wrist. It took two tries before her hand successfully did as Fleur wanted. Not reassuring, but not as bad as it could have been. Fleur remembered the horror stories from her grandmother of Veela who had transformed and been unable to move for a week.

The successful movement of her hand spurred Fleur on as she proceeded to experimentally move different parts of her body, first small things like hands and feet before trying to move larger body parts like her arms and legs, instigating a rather loud series of _cracks_ and _pops_ as the bones crunched from their stiffness. After several minutes of carefully moving, Fleur cautiously moved to sit up.

While successfully gaining upright posture, Fleur almost fell back as her head spun from the undertaking. Clearly, while she was fairing much better than many who had been in her place before had faired, Fleur was still greatly weakened from her transformation.

'Alors…quelle heure est-t-il?' Fleur wondered, as she glanced at the semi-light sky. (ENG: So…what time is it?) The inky black sky above had a thin layer of lighter blue below it followed by a delicate strand of orange.

As Fleur made to move the bed creaked beneath her, the springs long past their prime sounded as she shifted. Before Fleur could do anything, the door to the room opened to reveal Bill entering.

His long red hair shadowing his eyes as he ducked slightly entering the room, Fleur observed her fiancé with an odd sense of uncertainty. She couldn't place it, but something about this seemed wrong; her instincts were telling her something was different.

Bill looked up then, his blue eyes took her in, but Fleur got the distinct feeling this was a very different kind of taking her in than her fiancé usually did. His usually warm blue eyes seemed distant…cold even.

Cautiously she ventured, "Bille…?" He smiled at her then, grinning happily his eyes closed. The way he smiled flashed his slightly sharper teeth that were a result of Fenir's attack, his scars crinkling in his smile.

He said, "Fleur! You're awake, you should've called someone. I've been worried about you." He spoke in a voice that reeked of forced cheerfulness, and Fleur was getting increasingly uneasy. This was not her Bill. This couldn't be, because her Bill was genuine, and he loved her. So who was this?

The uneasy feeling increasing with each moment Fleur glanced around for her wand but found it wasn't anywhere in sight. Her anxiety spiked even higher as she responded, "I 'ave juste 'oken up, I deedn't 'ave time to call yet… Bille, wat waz ze date of ze day you asked me to marry you?"

Bill's smile faltered for a second and he said, "Fleur…you don't think I'm me?" he looked hurt, but somehow it didn't reach his still distant blue eyes.

"Non! Non, c'est…zorry, eet iz juste zat I want to be zure…" the blonde said, rapidly backpedalling. Bill's smile came back at that and he nodded.

"Of course, sorry I was just worried you didn't trust me, that's all." There seemed to be an undertone of something more to what he said, but Fleur couldn't pin it. Bill pressed on, "I asked you on a date in the lobby of Gringotts on September 9th, 1995."

Fleur nodded, that was right…which meant this was Bill, so why did everything still feel so wrong? Bill walked over and sat in the wooden chair beside the bed and looked at Fleur with concern and something else Fleur couldn't place in his eyes.

"So…do you want to tell me what the hell happened on Tuesday?" Bill demanded after a moment. Fleur flinched at the tone of barely concealed anger in his voice.

"Tuesday?" Fleur asked the end of his question giving her pause. "Bille…quel jour… zorry, wat day iz eet?" she asked, cursing how she kept slipping back to French today…she wondered if it was a side-effect of the transformation.

Bill frowned, "It's Friday evening. You've been out for almost 3 days, but don't avoid the question. What happened Fleur?"

"Where…Where iz everyone?" Fleur asked, Bill's frown deepened as he snapped peevishly.

"We're alone in the house! Now what the bloody hell happened?!" he snapped.

Fleur flinced, "I changed Bille…eento my Veela form." Bill's jaw set as he responded.

"I know that. What I want to know Fleur is why did it happen? And why didn't you tell me it could?" he said, snappishly. Fleur didn't like where this was going.

"Eef I 'ad known eet could 'appen I would 'ave told you Bille. Eet 'as not zomething I zought would 'appen." She said, shaking her head lightly. "I 'ave never changed before Bille, I didn't know eet waz even possible. My granmozzer and maman both zought eet would never 'appen since I 'ad never changed een twenty years!"

Bill was still frowning deeply, as he responded. "But you knew it was a possibility, didn't you. You knew that theoretically it could happen, and you still didn't tell me." There was anger in Bill's voice this time and Fleur was starting to get the feeling she knew why Bill was acting so strange.

"You are, 'ow zey say…offended zat I deed not tell you zat something I deed not zhink could ever 'appen?" She asked slowly, a sinking feeling rising within her.

The redhead glowered for a moment before retorting, "No, of course not, why should I be upset that you didn't tell me anything about this? It's not like we're engaged or anything!" Fleur's heart clenched at his words.

Closing her eyes Fleur responded, "Bille, wat do you want me to zay? I am zorry zat zhis eez zo shocking to you, but I 'ad no idea eet could even 'appen." She said softly.

Bill sneered this time, "'I had no idea this could happen' just stop Fleur. You lied to me! You didn't tell me about this! You didn't tell me that you could turn into one of those-those _things_ at the drop of a hat!"

Fleur felt as though she had been slapped. "One of zhose 'theengs', Bille? Franchement?" the blonde shook her head sadly, "I zhought you were different zhen zhis Bille…" she trailed off, tears forming in her crystal blue eyes.

Snarling his upper lip, Bill spit, "Yeah? Well I thought I was marrying a woman not someone who can reduce me to a drooling shell of a man whenever she wants."

The quarter Veela recoiled at his harsh words. "Bille…why are you acting zis way? Eet iz not like you…" she beseeched him. Fleur was starting to feel a little scared, Bill wasn't acting like himself, and she hardly had the strength to fight with him now. It had taken a lot of effort just to open her eyes and sit up.

"Why am I acting this way?" Bill echoed before laughing harshly, "I don't know Fleur, you tell me. Tell me, why in Merlin's name I would be upset that my fiancé _lied_ to me and tried to attack _my mother_!"

Fleur was speechless for a moment, "I…Bille I deedn't mean—" Bill cut her off before she could finish.

"I don't give a damn what you meant to do! It doesn't matter, because what you DID do is attack my family! You DID lie to me! You DID put my life in danger!" he barked, voice growing rapidly louder.

"Bille…pleaze calm down, I understand zat you are angry, but zis iz not zee way to fix zis." Fleur implored, looking searchingly at her fiancé as she tried to find any trace of the man she had fallen in love with in his cold eyes.

Before she could say anymore, Bill roared, "_CALM DOWN_!? You want me to CALM DOWN?!" Fleur's hand flew to her chest as she jumped, shocked at Bill's outburst. Looking at him now, Fleur couldn't find her Bill. She couldn't find her sweet, caring William who loved her dearly.

"You…Merlin, how _dare_ YOU of all people tell me to calm down! You think I haven't figured you out?! You think I haven't realized that you're in love with that bastard?!" Bill seethed as he glowered at her.

Fleur stared at him in bewilderment, "Bille…wat are you—"

Cutting her off again Bill yelled, standing from his chair, "DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME! I KNOW YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH POTTER!"

With an intense feeling of dread, Fleur suddenly realized _exactly_ what was wrong with Bill. He thought she was in love with Harry. Fleur swore mentally, and then tried to calm Bill down. "Bille, que-dis-tu? Tu sais que je t'aime." The blonde said quickly. (ENG: Bill, what are you saying? You know I love you.)

Bill, sitting back down, growled at her, "Bloody Hell woman! _Speak English_!" Fleur was startled, not having realized that she'd slipped back into speaking French.

"I zaid, zat you need to be reasonable Bille. You know zat I love you, wat are you saying about 'Arry? 'E iz not even 'ere! I 'aven't zeen 'im in months! No one 'as! 'Ow can you zhink zat I 'ave suddenly fallen for zomeone I 'ave not zeen in months?" Fleur asked, wondering what had caused Bill's sudden uncertainty in her love.

The redhead was not placated, "You think I believe that? Do you think I'm stupid?! It's always 'Harry this' and 'Harry that' with you! Even before that pounce up and left! Mad-Eye _died_ getting him here, and he just turned around and left! And you're in love with him!"

Fleur stared at her fiancé in shock. "'Ow can you zay zomething zat?! You know zat 'Arry was 'orrified zat Monsieur Moody died!" Anger was stirring within the quarter-Veela now, mixing with her fear and uncertainty.

Bill scoffed at this. "Horrified? Potter was so horrified that he up and left? So bloody horrified that he ran off without telling anyone in the middle of the bloody night to Merlin knows where. Oh yeah, he was 'horrified' alright. Potter was so bloody horrified that he took Mad-Eye's sacrifice and _spat on it_!"

Deciding that she had had enough of this, Fleur spoke calmly, "Bille, wat iz this about? You are zo angry at 'Arry zo zuddenly eet does not make sense. Why are you acting like zhis?" she asked, wondering what had caused such a rapid change. Before she had changed Bill had been right there with her speaking to his parents about the poor treatment Harry had received in his fourth year.

Bill leapt to his feet then, fury colouring his features, "Why am I acting like this?! How about because my fiancé bloody lied to me! How about because you're in love with that bloody wanker Potter!? How about because you were still going to let me marry you while you were mooning over Potter? Mum was right you know; you're nothing but a harlot!"

His words pierced Fleur's heart like a dagger, she had never expected this. Nothing had ever even given her the slightest clue that Bill would ever do something like this. "Bille, I do not know wat you are talking about! Why do you keep zaying zuch 'orrible zhings?" she pleaded with him, her already exhausted mind trying to process everything all the while fatigue tolled on her.

"Tell me it's not true then!" Bill snapped. Causing Fleur to look at him in bewilderment, she didn't understand what he was going on about anymore.

"Bille wat—" she began but he cut her off.

"SAY IT!" he roared, suddenly grabbing her by the shoulders roughly and shaking her.

Fleur let out a startled gasp as he grabbed her, his fingers digging into her skin. "Bille!" she pleaded, tears forming in her eyes. Fleur, already weak from her transformation, was too physically, mentally and emotionally spent to prevent the tears from coming.

Rage controlling him, Bill yelled in her face, "SAY YOU DON'T LOVE HIM! _**SAY IT!**_" Fleur was moving towards hysterics as she tried to comprehend what was happening. It was all going too fast for her, this was not Bill. This _couldn't_ be Bill.

When Fleur didn't respond the redhead let out a lupine sound before backhanding Fleur across the face: hard.

Sprawling back, Fleur was momentarily paralyzed by the shock. Tears were falling from her eyes now as she bit back a sob, "Bille!" she cried as his hulking mass was suddenly over top of her, his weight pinning her to the bed.

"YOU BITCH!" he shouted, snarling above her. Fleur looked at him and saw no trace of the man she had fallen in love with. Bill's eyes were wild as tremors ran up and down his body. His sharp teeth were barred and his shoulders were hunched in an unnatural way. All at once every instinct in Fleur's body, human, Veela and otherwise suddenly screamed one word in her mind.

_Werewolf._

"Bille! Zhis iz not you! Eet iz ze werewolf een you! You 'ave to fight eet Bille! Pleaze, you 'ave to fight zhis!" Fleur begged, jerking as much as she could trying to get him off of her.

The redhead grinned his sharp teeth at her as he leaned down and growled into her ear, "What? Am I not subhuman enough for you, you bloody Veela?" With those words he licked the side of her neck but all Fleur felt was terror. She was too weak to fight him, and worse still she didn't even have her wand!

Bill reared back keeping his legs planted on either side of her, "Am I not good enough for you?! What does that pillock have that I don't Fleur?! Is it his fame?!" Bill spat. "Or is it that he's still young." he sneered.

A tremble ran through the young man as he spoke, "After _everything_ I did for you Fleur! For _**us**_, THIS is how you repay me?!" releasing another lupine howl Bill slammed his fist down mere inches from Fleur's head, the impact leaving a hole in the mattress.

Fleur fought her hardest against him, pushing with all the strength she had left against Bill's frame, but it was no use. She was too weak now. Darkness was starting to cloud the edges of Fleur's vision when suddenly a hand struck her across the face.

"Respond damn you!" Bill growled. Fleur's vision swam when all at once she felt a not unfamiliar trembling start to spread through her own body.

'Encore?!' Fleur thought uncomprehending before her own mind gave way to the transformation that came on much more rapidly the second time.

Bill was thrown back by the sheer force of the magik radiating off of Fleur's form as she transformed again into her Veela form, avian features over taking her own as her mind gave way to a more primal one.

When Bill shook his head and opened his eyes he saw Fleur and almost instantly felt his mind giving way to the Veela allure. Fleur, not in her usual mind, took one look at the slack-jawed man on the floor and let out a piercing screech.

Internally struggling as her Veela half wanted nothing more than to cause great pain to the man who had so harmed her since she awoke but Fleur's human half knew she didn't have the energy and that she had to get out of the vicinity, and fast.

The act of transforming a second time so soon after awakening was too much for Fleur's weakened body, and she could feel her body, even in its hyper aware state, rapidly waning from over-using her magik. Fleur released one last ethereal cry before a loud crack resonated through the otherwise silent Burrow accompanied by a flash of white and she was gone.

Bill, being released from his trance was baffled and incensed to see Fleur not in the room any longer. A lupine howl tore up Bill's throat as he shouted his anger through the empty Burrow.

A thousand miles away Harry Potter was just walking back towards his tent when a loud crack behind him caused him to whirl around, drawing his wand. Harry was shell-shocked by what he saw.

At first he wasn't sure who—or what—it was but as magic rose off the form in sapphire blue steam taking with it the avian appearing form the figure took one stumbling step forward before collapsing into Harry's arms as he raced forward and caught her.

"Fleur?!"

**AN:/** **So that was…heated. Part of the reason the chapter is shorter is I felt like Bill and Fleur's fight deserved its own chapter without any other side action happening. The good news is—Fleur is FINALLY with Harry! Also, I'm sorry if you all hate Bill in this chapter, I don't actually hate him, this was just the way I want him in this story. Also, if it seems really OOC for him, it's because the werewolf parts of him are increasing his rage. A lot. Anyways, hope you all liked it, I will **_**try**_** to update sooner. I'm putting ****2lip123456789 in charge of kicking my ass if I don't. All fav's, reviews, flames, follows, alerts and what have you are much appreciated. (Seriously you guys are all great). **

_**Next Time: We'll catch up with the other characters, & Hooch, next time, but also what is Harry going to do when he finds out what Bill did to Fleur? And what will happen now that Fleur is with Harry? Also, how the hell did she find him? What will the other Weasleys think? Also how will Tonks & Remus react? That and a whole lot more somewhere in the near to semi-distant future!**_

**Thanks for reading! **

**~GGUC**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN:/ So…I'm a little late huh? Yeah…I'm not going to bore you with excuses, but essentially I got busy. Sorry to take so long to update, I'm sure all or most of you realize life gets crazy. Regardless, while not as long as some other chapters have been this is the best I can get up for now. Mostly because lately I've found myself getting a bit of writer's block—rather frustrating that. But hey! 10 chapters is a bit of an accomplishment, no? Anyway, hopefully you enjoy the chapter!**

_**Disclaimer: Evidently I do not own Harry Potter, the characters, locations, spells, etc. and never will. Those belong to the lovely JK Rowling and her beautiful mind. **_

**(With Hooch and Luna)**

For a moment Rolanda was thrown by Luna's immediate recognition of her, but then the blonde had always had a knack for being strangely perceptive. The 'hawk' leapt off Luna's shoulder, surging forward before suddenly transforming. Grey-black wings billowed out in to the flicker of a billowing black cloak and talons elongated into fingers as similarly grey head feathers shed rapidly revealing short, spiky silver hair. Gold eyes that remained morphed shape to appear larger and less avian and a yellow beak contorted into a human nose and mouth. No longer was Luna standing with a grey hawk, but with her professor.

The newly appeared woman raised a brow at the usually dazed blonde, "Do I want to know how you knew that?" she asked. Luna just gave her a serene smile.

Shaking her head slightly, Rolanda got her first real look at the young Ravenclaw in months. Usually blonde hair was greasy, matted and caked in a combination of dirt, grime and what Rolanda grimly suspected to be dried blood. The blonde's skin was also quite grime covered, however it was painfully obvious that there were scars and bruises under the dirt. The already slim girl also now appeared to be dangerously underweight, as her sallow skin seemed to hang off her frame. The dark circles under her glassy grey eyes also indicated a lack of sleep, all of which Rolanda had anticipated.

Overall the blonde appeared, at least with all the dirt and grime in place, to be almost better off than Rolanda had anticipated; however, the elder witch knew that was most likely not the case. There were few visible physical symptoms to many different curses that were common amongst the Death Eaters. Torture curses. Many were excruciatingly painful, but they didn't always leave visible traces. The Cruciatus Curse was an example, while there were trembles and such that came in the interim after the curse, lasting latent effects took longer to be visible, more still when the individual was either resilient or young.

Rolanda had the suspicion that Luna was both. The blonde had never once bent under the bullying she underwent at Hogwarts. Bullying that Hooch, along with several other professors, had tried to get stopped. Their efforts had been constantly stopped by outrageous, bureaucratic, pureblood laws that Rolanda had passionately loathed since her first year at Hogwarts. Being constantly tormented by her 'superiors' because she was only a 'filthy Mudblood' had done nothing to endear her to pureblood society.

Luna spoke then, "Did the heffelumps guide you professor?" she asked dazedly. Rolanda internally sighed, any other student and that question would have been seriously alarming, but with Luna, well Rolanda had heard stranger from the girl.

"I'm afraid not, lass. T'was more of a phoenix type effort." Rolanda said trying not to consider too much what a heffelump might be. Luna smiled serenely at her then and spoke softly.

"I see…will we be going to visit the phoenix now then?" there was something in the way Luna spoke that crossed Rolanda as almost disappointed at the prospect, but she decided against wondering why.

"No, I'm afraid you'll be travelling with me for a while now, lass." Rolanda said, and it was true, she was no longer affiliated closely with the Order—contact was increasingly difficult if you weren't staying in one place and on the run from Death Eaters at all times. The silver haired woman noticed that Luna seemed almost relieved to know they wouldn't be joining up with the Order again in the interim. Peculiar, but there would be time for finding out more later.

"We need to keep moving I'm afraid, there's only so much time we can be in one place before they might find us." Rolanda said gently, hoping not to alarm the barely escaped girl. There would be Death Eaters coming fast when they realized one of their prisoners was gone.

Luna nodded, "Yes professor. Where will we go now?" Rolanda sighed with vague relief. She had been minimally worried that Luna may be against the idea, but she also had her doubts the girl would be.

Rolanda replied, "We'll go to my home in lower Scotland, and from there I'll be transferring you to a safe house out of the UK." The elder witch's voice was heavy, she hated having to do this, to take such a bright girl out of the country, but she also knew there would be no safe way to keep her in the country.

Luna's eyes impossibly widened, she had not foreseen this, "Where will I go?" Rolanda shook her head and silently handed Luna a piece of parchment. It read: Rolanda Hooch lives at 478 Berkanan Drive, Perth, Scotland. And then before Luna could speak, Rolanda grabbed her hand and the two of them disapparated with a small crack.

Wide emerald eyes stared at the beautiful woman suddenly in his arms. Harry gaped slightly, completely stunned at the sudden appearance of the very woman that had haunted his dreams and nightmares for months.

"Fleur?!" Harry exclaimed as he caught her.

She looked up at him; her blue eyes bleary as she breathily gasped, "'Arry!" and then she went limp. Harry was terrified for a horrible second that she had died but he found her pulse faster than he'd ever found a pulse before and felt the small, slow rise and fall of her chest with her breathing.

Not knowing what else to do—or how the hell Fleur had suddenly appeared _inside his wards_—Harry brought her to the tent and immediately called Dobby. The excitable house elf immediately popped in. "Master Harry, sir! What's be—" the elf but himself off seeing the blonde Harry had in the tent.

"Master Harry Potter's Fleursy be here?" Dobby questioned causing Harry to turn red. Harry shook his head.

"Fleur isn't mine, or anyone's for that matter, Dobby. You can't own a person the same way I don't own you or Kreacher. You are both employed by me but you're also my friends." Harry said simply, causing Dobby to tear up once more.

Dobby was about to start thanking Harry profusely but, sensing it coming, Harry quickly cut in to avoid becoming embarrassed, "Dobby I need you to check the wards and make sure they haven't been damaged or weakened somehow, please? I-I need to make sure nothing's wrong with Fleur but I…" Harry trailed off, at a loss.

Saluting Harry, Dobby spoke, "Dobby will be checkings the wards Master Harry sir!" and with a vague pop Dobby was off to do just that, leaving Harry alone again with Fleur.

Looking at the blonde in question Harry winced at how exhausted she looked. It had been a long time since he'd seen her anywhere close to this tired. Not since the Triwizard Tournament three years earlier.

It had taken quite a bit to exhaust Fleur…the Second Task had taken a lot out of her, the paralyzing fear of Gabrielle remaining on the bottom of the lake when she couldn't continue had drained every last ounce of Fleur's remaining energy. She had fought relentlessly trying to reach her beloved sister…and the pain of her failure in that had shamed her for a long time after. Harry recalled though that, despite her short-coming, it actually drove Fleur to try harder—more training, more studying, more practice; trying to perfect her skills and strengthen herself so she would never fail again.

Harry remembered what she'd said when he'd found her training into the wee early hours of the morning. _"I can't ztop 'Arry. I won't. Not when zhere are ztill ozzer monzterz out zhere zat could 'urt 'er."_ The fire in her bright blue eyes that night had haunted Harry's dreams ever since. There was a passion that he had only ever seen hints of from others; an alluring fire that drew him in like a moth to a flame.

Looking at her exhausted form on his make-shift cot bed now…Harry wondered what on Earth could have brought this woman, this warrior, to such a state of fatigue. It had taken dragons, and thinking she almost lost her sister after fighting off a hoard of grindylows to even begin to exhaust Fleur.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts temporarily Harry grabbed his wand, he had convinced to teach him a basic diagnosis spell during his 6th year—she had refused to teach him to heal things because she knew he would use it to try to avoid the Hospital Wing even if he messed up the healing. Diagnosis was easy enough though.

Muttering the spell Harry waved his wand over Fleur and waited as a sky blue image formed over the girl listing her injuries. Finally the light shifted into a piece of parchment, scripting out her injuries. Glancing in over, Harry found that it was not serious injury, but rather some kind of magical exhaustion primarily effecting Fleur…

'But what could have used enough magic to exhaust Fleur?' Harry wondered, bemused. He knew Fleur had extensive reserves of magic, so her suffering magical exhaustion seemed odd to him. 'It could be getting here I suppose…' he mused, knowing Dobby would be back soon with whatever the results were from testing the wards. If Fleur did break the wards then it would be easy to explain why she was magically exhausted…but somehow Harry felt like she didn't. He could sense traces of the wards still, he wasn't the best sensor of magic, so he couldn't be positive, but he got the feeling she didn't.

"So how did you get to me…?" he mused allowed, gently brushing a strand of Fleur's blonde hair aside. It was slightly matted and damp he noted. 'Sweat?' he thought, curiously. It wasn't discoloured at all, so it wasn't blood. 'Thank Merlin; but then what is it?'

A sudden pop beside him caused Harry to jump as Dobby reappeared. "Master Harry sir! Dobby's be checking the wards, sir, and Miss Fleursy not be breaking the wards. The wards be being perfect, sir!" the excitable elf chirped.

Harry's mouth thinned slightly in a gesture almost reminiscent of McGonagall as he mulled over the new information he had already thought could very well be true. "How did you do it Fleur?" he murmured.

Dobby chimed in then, "Miss Fleursy be using Veela magiks, sir!" Harry's head snapped around to face Dobby.

"You know how she got here?" Harry asked, startled. Dobby's eyes widened impossibly before he nodded.

"Of course, sir. Miss Fleursy is being Veela, and used old Veela magiks to be getting to Master Harry, sir!" Dobby said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Harry stared stunned at Dobby for a moment before looking back at Fleur.

"How do you know so much about Veela magik, Dobby?" Harry asked, slightly preoccupied as he tried to figure out what Fleur's sudden appearance meant.

Dobby, looking slightly sheepish explained, "All elfs be knowing about Veelas Master Harry sir. We's be knowings about all the magiks of all peoples with magiks, sir." There was a note of apprehension in Dobby's voice that made Harry realize Dobby thought he was angry with him.

"I'm not angry Dobby, I promise. I'm just worried about Fleur; I don't mean to come across as harsh." Harry said, turning and kneeling to be at eye-level with Dobby. The little elf squeaked slightly, clearly not expecting Harry to realize what he was feeling or thought.

The little elf nodded before speaking quieter than usual, "If master Harry be wantings, Dobby can be tellings Master Harry of the Veela magiks." He didn't phrase it as a question so much as a statement, but it still gave Harry pause.

Did he want to learn about Veela magik? Absolutely. Did he trust Dobby when he said he knew about Veela magik? Of course. The real question was, did he want to learn about Veela magik from someone who wasn't Fleur? He wasn't sure; somehow it almost felt…wrong to learn about her magik, her culture without her. He knew Dobby most likely was very well versed in different magiks if he said he was. However, Harry also knew that Fleur would know it better than anyone, and that there was the risk that she might not _want_ him to know some of the things.

Finally Harry replied, "Thank-you Dobby, I'll keep that in mind…for now, um, do you know, er, could you find out if there's anything wrong with Fleur other than exhaustion?" Dobby immediately nodded before snapping his fingers and another list appeared above Fleur, this one more detailed than Harry's own.

Every bruise, and muscle strain was listed and Harry couldn't help the apprehension and anger that rose in him at whoever had hurt Fleur. Bruising was not the result of magical exhaustion, so someone had hurt her. Whoever they were, Harry was going to make sure they paid for it and never did it again.

"Thank-you, Dobby." Harry said before taking the floating list and reading it closer. Dobby nodded, smiling at Harry before disappearing with a faint pop.

Alone again with Fleur Harry gently shifted her sleeve in accordance with Dobby's list and saw that there was indeed a bruise there. A rather hand shaped bruise. Rage flooded Harry's veins, with one question ringing through his mind, 'Who did this?'

Fleur was no pushover; she was one of the strongest witches he knew, which meant someone with serious power had to have done this, or Fleur had to have been first subdued somehow—Harry didn't like either of those scenarios.

Frowning he fumbled around for a damp cloth before sitting down on a stump he'd taken to using as a chair beside her cot, gently pressing the cloth to the bruise on her arm in the vague hopes of reducing swelling.

Harry's frown deepened when Fleur remained unconscious…he hated this. There were so many unknowns now…and all the answers lay with the woman in front of him. The woman he loved…who was now oblivious to the world around her.

He knew it would be a while until she awoke too, based on Dobby's scan, it could be days if not a week. That also meant he couldn't leave where he was now during that time. He didn't know how the hell Fleur had found him, but there was no way he could return her to the Order or even Hogwarts. It was simply out of the question. Fleur would have to stay with him, at least until she was healthy.

Harry vaguely wondered if he shouldn't try and contact Bill, but decided against it. For all he knew Fleur and the eldest Weasley had been attacked. Although Harry noticed there was no wedding band on her finger which surprised him. Fleur and Bill's wedding had been months ago.

Before he could ponder it further though a rather loud crack occurred in the tent followed by a slew of half-formed curses: Kreacher. The elf scowled at Harry all but throwing a gold cup at him. There was a sticky red substance on it—blood. Harry's eyes flew wide as he immediately recognized the emblem emblazoned on the cup—Hufflepuff; which could mean only one thing.

A Horcrux.

Eyes widening Harry looked at the cup before looking at Kreacher, shocked that the plan had actually worked that well. "Kreacher I—" he began before the elf cut him off.

"Stupid half-blood traitor forcing Kreacher to disobey Kreacher's mistress…oh the shame if mistress knew! But alas, dirty half-blood be forbidding Kreacher to tell, yes filthy half- blood be putting Kreacher away." The old elf sneered; Harry winced. He did hate doing this to Kreacher but he had to defeat Voldemort.

The blood on the cup disturbed Harry the most. Who's blood was this? Voldemort's? No…it was too fresh. "Kreacher?" Harry asked, bringing the old elf out of his enraged ramblings.

Once he had Kreacher's attention Harry continued, "Whose blood is this?" he asked gesturing to the cup. Kreacher remained silent.

Sighing, Harry spoke again "Kreacher, I _need_ you to tell me whose blood this is. I don't want to order you to, but if I have to I will." Kreacher scowled at Harry for a long moment.

"Kreacher knows not where the blood be coming from. Maybe filthy half-blood be spilling dirty blood on the cup." The elf sneered. Harry internally sighed but conceded that Kreacher most likely really didn't know whose blood it was.

The cup was getting painful to hold—and now Harry knew why. Anything possessing a piece of Voldemort's soul was bad news for him; not that that surprised him. Anything to do with Voldemort tended to be bad for him.

He looked at the shiny gold surface in his hand, the carefully sculpted outline of the badger on its surface. Sighing Harry knew what to do; looking at Fleur's form one last time to ensure she was still resting, he rummaged a little before pulling out Gryffindor's sword.

Stepping quietly outside the tent, but remaining well within the wards, Harry sat the cup on a stump. Taking a deep breath he steadied himself, gripping the hilt of the gleaming silver sword with both hands. Raising the blade above his head for a downward strike, Harry took a deep breath before hissing in Parseltoungue, "_Reveal yourself."_

Unlike the locket the image that arouse from the cup was not that of his failing love life, but rather an image that Harry was not unfamiliar with. It was him, but not at his current age. He was younger, much younger. Harry saw himself as an infant, a beautiful red-haired woman holding him, and suddenly a man entered. A younger Tom Riddle—Voldemort. The woman screamed; a different flash than usual followed though.

Instead of the green Harry was accustomed to from his memory, there was a flash of red hit Lily Potter and she began to writhe in pain. The infant in her arms wailed as it was dropped, but the current Harry was too stunned to react for half a second before with a war-like cry he brought the sword down hard on the cup.

Harry was once more flung backwards by the force of the destruction. The image was gone. The last cries of Lily Potter rang in Harry's ears as he propped himself up on his elbows to see the cup sitting still with vague wisps of smoke rising from it; the last residue of a dying soul.

Slowly, shakily, Harry rose and made his way over to the cup, gently touching it he pulled his hand back startled. The cup was warm, and the inside was _full_ of blood. Harry's eyes widened, 'The blood on the side of the cup…it couldn't have been HIS could it?!' Harry shivered. Did that mean someone else had already damaged the Horcrux? Or did Voldemort have to put his own blood in to make the Horcrux to begin with?

It was enough to make Harry slightly queasy, so he decided to leave the thoughts for later. Gingerly picking up the cup Harry went back into the tent and found a small sealable bag before stepping back outside. Carefully he poured the crimson liquid into the bag before flicking his want to magically seal the bag. Not wanting to risk dumping blood from a Horcrux on the ground he brought the bag and cup back in the tent.

He looked over at the still unconscious blonde on the cot. Fleur's chest rose and fell normally, but Harry was still weary of her remaining unconscious for so long. It was unusual, and it didn't help that he knew nothing about how she got here.

Sighing, Harry quickly scribbled a note stuck it to the bag of blood, and fished around for a bottle cap that Emmeline had given him. It was a portkey that would transport whatever it was touching to her basement. Setting it on the bag of blood and the note Harry tapped it once with his wand and then it was gone.

Another Horcrux down. Three more to go.

**(Hogwarts)**

Hermione was apprehensive as she walked to Professor McGonagall's office, it was unusual for her to be called there, but more than that it was peculiar given the time that McGonagall had set. Right before curfew. Needless to say hallway traffic was not an issue for Hermione.

Knocking shortly on the door she waited patiently for her professor to call "Enter." Before gently easing the door open.

Walking inside Hermione shut the door behind her before speaking, "You wanted to see me, professor?" she asked politely, curiosity colouring her tone.

Minerva nodded, "Have a seat Miss Granger." She said, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk, before flicking her wand to the door locking it and with another flick activating the privacy wards in her office.

The already present apprehension in the pit of Hermione's stomach grew. Unable to hold it in any longer Hermione blurted her question, "Is Harry okay?"

Eyes widening in slight surprise before a sad look developed on her features, Minerva replied, "There has been no more news on since the summer I'm afraid, Miss Granger, but that is not why I asked you here tonight." Pausing to consider how to best phrase what she had to say.

"Hermione," the girl in question stiffened at the use of her first name. "I'm afraid that it is not…safe…for you to remain at Hogwarts any longer." Before Hermione could protest, Minerva held up a hand.

"I am well aware of your abilities as well as your desire to stay and help here as you are not with on his adventures, but you must realize that staying here is only going to putting your own life needlessly in danger. As much as it pains me to say it, Hogwarts cannot protect students from Death Eaters under You-Know-Who's ruling." McGonagall sounded tired as she spoke, Hermione could hear the exhaustion as well as seeing the effects in McGonagall's face.

Hermione felt tears stinging her eyes as she replied, throat dry, "I-Do I at least get to say good-bye?" she choked out around the lump in her throat, knowing she had lost. This was not the first conversation of this nature she had had with Professor McGonagall, but somehow she knew this would be the last. She'd been through enough detentions with the Carrows' to know that Minerva was right.

If she stayed at Hogwarts she truly would die.

**AN:/ So thoughts? Concerns? Passionate dislike? Hopefully not so much the last one…but hey whatever you feel is for you to know and for me to possibly find out about later. So I wanted to move along the plot some more in this one, hence Horcrux destruction No. 5, but I also wanted to look at some of what was going on away from Harry. Obviously he and Fleur are the two main characters of this fic, but there's a lot that goes on away from them too. I also wanted to establish further what's going on with Hogwarts, but there will be more of that next chapter. All reviews, favs, follows, etc are much appreciated and even the ones I don't get around to replying to are read and much appreciated. **

_**Next Time: Hermione is leaving Hogwarts—What will Ron and the other remaining students do? Where will she go? What will Hermione do once she's left? What will Luna and Hooch do from Scotland? More importantly will Harry realize he himself is a Horcrux? What will happen when Fleur awakes? And what will Harry do when he finds out what happened to her? There are still so many questions left! **_

**Thanks for reading!**

**~GGUC**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN:/ So, I don't usually update the same story twice in a row without doing my other two first—the people reading the other ones may kill me later—and while this was not a particularly fast update…well maybe for me it is, but I digress I wanted to update this one again because I just noticed that there are over 1000 of you following this story?! I don't even know how to begin processing that information, first of all thank you all so much for being interested, and patient. But moreover, I'm more than a little shell-shocked because, well, my writing really isn't **_**that**_** good. **

**Anyway, to address the point several-many-of-you pointed out, yes I did royally screw up the "Next time" part of the last chapter. (Although I am glad that means some of you actually read that part). Yeah…I don't have a good reason, mostly I was just really tired and tend to forget to re-read my AN type stuff. To clarify, yes Harry does know he's a horcrux in this story, and as I periodically go back and edit the chapters/replace them with actual less-crappy writing, then I will fix that. Well, that's MORE than enough, from me, on with the chapter!**

_**Disclaimer: Evidently I do not own the Harry Potter, series, characters, locations, etc, etc. because otherwise we would still be waiting for book 2 to come out. **_

**(With Harry and Fleur)**

Fleur's body felt like her veins had been pumped with lead. Her arms felt stiff and her head heavy. She tried to recall what had happened last—where was she? She tried to sense what was around her using her lesser magical abilities, but her senses protested against the action, groaning out their disagreement.

The efforts made her head spin as she tried to open her eyes but found them too heavy to move. It took all her energy to remain in any state of consciousness, she wondered how long she had been out the last thing she remembered was…Internally frowning she tried to recollect where she last was.

She remembered coming too in the Burrow, Bill, the fight, pain—intense pain—transforming again, a warmth and then…nothing. Where on Earth was she? Struggling, Fleur again tried to haul her eyes open, but knew it was futile. She decided to try a different tactic—listening.

Straining her ears she was surprised to hear the buzzing she'd thought to be in her head turn into discernible words. Someone was beside her. Someone was talking to her prone form. 'Qui…?' (ENG: Who?) She wondered straining to better hear the voice.

"It's been 8 days Fleur…Where are you? God…I can't…just please be okay, Fleur. I want-no, I _need_ you to be okay." It was a male voice, a familiar one. He was pleading with her, whoever he was. And seeing as he knew her name, evidently he knew who she was. He was English though, whoever he was.

Fleur's brain worked to process what he was saying when suddenly his first words hit her, 'Huit jour!? Mon Dieu! Est-ce que c'était vraiment si longue?!' Fleur wondered wildly, trying to comprehend what was happening. (ENG: Eight days!? My God! Was it really that long?!).

Before she could dwell anymore on the duration of her unconsciousness, Fleur became rapidly aware of just who the voice belonged to. 'Harry! Comment est-ce qu'il est ici!?' she wondered, now trying harder than ever to open her eyes, to see the young man who had left her and the others behind so many months before.

Finally, with monumental effort Fleur managed to slowly crack her eyes open, and slowly flutter the lids—the movement was agony in many ways. It hurt to open her eyes, and the light in the room around her hurt to.

Slowly she tried to focus as suddenly there was a flurry of movement around her; Harry was speaking fast now. Rapid questions and exclamations—Fleur groaned softly as her addled mind tried to keep up. It was too much, too fast. The noise, the movement, the light—it had Fleur's barely functioning senses going haywire.

Harry was oblivious to all this, so, blocking out his rapid questions as best she could Fleur tried to see if she could get her voice to work; to formulate some very simple English sentences to get him to stop talking. She needed a moment to collect herself—there were so many things she wanted and needed to say to Harry, but first she needed to be able to function at all. So far she could barely hold her eyes open let alone speak.

Finally Fleur managed to get her jaw to slowly move, her tongue, which felt like a thick shag carpet buried in the depths of the desert, to start flopping in the right manner to form a coherent word, "…'Arry…" she finally managed to half-cough out, abruptly stopping Harry's verbal onslaught.

In the silence, Fleur finally managed to focus her bleary eyes enough to take in the changes in Harry's appearance since she'd seen him in July. He looked older; much older. There was stubble growing on his face, his once bright green eyes seemed slightly hollowed into his head as a result of the ever present bags under his eyes, only they looked more prominent now than ever before. There wasn't anything grandiose that changed—no new scars on his face or some other altered feature, but there was a new age to his face, much more than she'd ever seen since his fourth year.

She'd seen Harry almost every summer since that year and in all the time he was away at Hogwarts he'd never seemed to physically age so much as he had since the past July. Clearly she had missed a lot.

He was staring at her, waiting for her to say something more, anything, but Fleur was struggling to keep her thoughts coherent. Her body, her mind was exhausted. Eight days or no, transforming twice in the span of 4 days was enough to wipe Fleur out for a long time. It was more than enough to knock most Veela out cold for pushing two weeks.

Harry spoke then and somehow through her dizzying head-spins Fleur managed to hear it, "Fleur, please, I need to know what happened to you?" he pleaded.

Groaning Fleur tried her best to get the word out, "T-transformation" she managed to cough out, her French accent heavy with the word. Harry looked confused for a second before his eyes widened.

"Transformation?" he questioned. "Did you, I mean— you transformed into your Veela state?" he continued, a note of incredulity and awe in his voice.

Fleur coughed slightly as she weakly whispered, "Oui." It was enough though because understanding flashed through Harry's emerald eyes as he remembered a conversation from years before he had had with Fleur after the second task.

_Despite being decidedly dissatisfied with her results from the second task, Harry knew it was driving Fleur to work even harder before the third task. However, in a now rare moment of peace and quiet he found her lingering by the edge of the lake. _

_It was the early morning; few others were awake in the castle; fewer still out and about, but there she was, staring at the calm, reflective surface; the greyish hue of the morning light reflected back at her. Harry approached her quietly. _

"_Hello Fleur." He said by way of greeting, she didn't look at him as she replied. _

"'_Ello 'Arry."her voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper, but in the silence of the morning it was more than enough. They were both silent for a moment, allowing the calm of the morning to envelope them. _

_It was surprisingly Fleur to break it, "I 'ear zhem, you know." Harry blinked raising his eyebrows. _

"_Hear who?" he asked, not understanding. _

_Seeming almost amused by his answer, Fleur continued, "Zhe Merpeople," she paused for a moment before adding in a quieter voice, "…and zhe ozzer ztudentz." _

_Harry turned to stare at her for a moment, "You can hear Merpeople from up here?" he asked, stunned. He couldn't hear a thing._

_Fleur let out a slightly bitter laugh, Harry didn't like it as much as her usual happy trill. "All Veela can 'ear Merpeople, 'Arry. Zhey can 'ear uz too." This didn't ease Harry's confusion much so he tried again. _

"_Why do Veela and Merpeople hear each other?" he asked. _

_She was quiet for a moment before speaking, "Zhe Veela and ze Merpeople 'ave long been enemeez, 'Arry. Zhey are naturally zo; we come from fire, but zhey are from water…A Veela iz alwayz at 'er weakezt in zhe water."_

_Harry's eyes widened at the information. That explained a lot—especially why after doing so well in the first task, not to mention being chosen as a school champion to begin with, Fleur had struggled so much in the second task. She was a Veela. That meant not only were they going into her natural enemies territory, but she was already weaker in the water._

_Another bitter laugh escaped her lips as she said, "Zhey zink I was weak…zhe ozzer ztudentz but zhey don't know…Zhere iz nozzing to protect me from zhe Merpeople but my Veela magik…and zhat iz weaker ztill because I 'ave never tranzformered."_

_A bolt of empathy swept through Harry at that. He knew all too well how Fleur was feeling. Hurt. Betrayed. Her own peers would turn against her in harsh judgement based on something they didn't understand. They had no idea what it was like, the fear of going into those cold, unknown depths, and moreover knowing that someone you loved was down there…It was more than most students could handle…but they didn't care about that._

_Finally he murmured, "I'm sorry." Fleur didn't react, still staring at the water. _

_After a moment she turned to look at him, her crystalline blue eyes full of more emotion than Harry usually saw in anyone and she whispered, "I know."_

He had never learned much about what exactly the transformation entailed, but he knew that it was supposed to take a lot of energy—it was harsher than the first time someone gained their animagus form from what Fleur had later told him, and Sirius had told him once just how much changing into an animagus hurt. It all suddenly clicked in Harry's mind.

'She transformed for the first time! No wonder she was magically exhausted when she got here! Was it something about the transformation that allowed her to get here?' Harry wondered, trying his best to understand, shaking his head he scrounged up a bottle of water and gently held it out to her.

"Can you drink anything?" he asked gently, looking searchingly into her still slightly hazy blue eyes.

Fleur's mind protested at the thought of trying to drink, but she knew she had to so she tried her best to nod slightly; Harry caught it only because he was paying close attention. Carefully Harry lifted her aching body and propped her back against the bars and the end of cot before gently tipping a little water from his bottle into her slightly open mouth.

Despite her hesitancy to accept the drink to begin with, Fleur's parched throat felt infinitely better afterwards. Slowly allowing the cool fluid to sooth her throat as she tried to ignore her embarrassment at needing Harry's help drinking Fleur began to fully come to, noticing her surroundings for the first time.

She appeared to be lying on some form of a cot, inside what she could only guess was a tent…Fleur couldn't help but wonder whether Harry had been living in this tent for months now, and if so, where and when he'd had time to get the tent.

Finally Harry pulled the bottle away, recapping it, and waited. Fleur coughed a little but spoke "Zhank-you, 'Arry." She murmured, voice still weak, but not as hoarse as before. Harry took it as a good sign.

"Fleur," he began gently, but with a note of urgency in his voice. "Is there anything else hurting you other than exhaustion from your transformation? Are you injured at all?"

Pausing for just a second to think about the question Fleur shook her head, "I am going to be fine 'Arry. Eet will be 'ard for me…I—'Arry, I don't know eef I will be able to stand for a few dayz…" she finished quietly, ashamed.

Harry swiftly placed a hand below her chin before cautiously, gently pulling her head to face him. "Fleur, I don't care if you can't walk for a little while, I'll carry you if I have to." He smiled a little when she raised a brow.

"I _will_ if that's what I need to do for you to believe me, but Fleur what I really need is to know what happened to you. And moreover, how did you find me?" he asked, a note of anxiousness in his voice.

Fleur was weary of entering into what would inevitably be a long conversation, especially since she wasn't exactly sure herself how she found Harry. "I don't know, 'Arry. I deedn't plan to find you exactly… I 'ad been looking for a long time, but I 'ad not found a trace of you. Zuddenly appearing 'ere with you…it was not zomething I learned 'ow to do."

Frowning, Harry spoke, "You weren't trying to come to me? Then how on Earth…" he trailed off, unsure whether he wanted to know the answer to his question.

"It wouldn't," he began. "Fleur, it wouldn't be your Veela magik that did it, would it?" he asked, as gently as possible.

Looking away from Harry, Fleur spoke quietly, "I don't know 'Arry…I—when I transformed, zhere iz not much memory zhere…eet iz all…blurred." She said softly. There was annoyance in her voice at her inability to remember, but Harry was quick to comfort her.

"It's okay Fleur. You can't help it if you can't remember." He said, although she knew that it was killing him to not know. She knew he feared for her—and much though it pained her to know it, she was also grateful to have him there, caring so much for her.

Fleur winced, recalling her parting encounter with Bill…so much for being engaged. Despite that though, she had to admit, where Bill had fast become a terrifying disaster; Harry was still Harry. The same young man she'd met three years before, aged some yes, but still the same kind, concerned soul.

Her eyelids were growing heavy from exhaustion—it still amazed her she could be so tired after having allegedly slept for the last 8 days she could _still_ be tired beyond belief. In many ways her rest had been almost catatonic; the more time that passed, the less calm Harry remained.

Finally, Fleur couldn't keep her eyes open and slowly drifted into the blissful unknowing of sleep; letting the darkness rush in around her she breathed in the fresher air, body still firing on all cylinders in a feeble attempt to regain strength.

Harry gazed at the blonde before him in wonder as he watched her fall back into unconsciousness, he was concerned—especially with Fleur's lack of forthcoming information, but he also knew enough to know she was exhausted. A low 'pop' beside him alerted him to Dobby's appearance.

Speaking lowly, Dobby murmured, "Miss Fleursy be's being sleepy from hers changings. Most Veelas be sleeping many weeks after to get healthy again." Dobby chirped out, hoping to lift his visibly distraught master.

It wasn't entirely effective, but Harry did seem to perk up a little at the tidbit of information, and that was enough for Dobby. Harry smiled a little at his faithful companion, "Thanks for telling me Dobby…I just…I don't know what to do to help her." He murmured.

Hesitantly, Dobby reached a bony hand up and, being too short to reach Harry's shoulder, awkwardly patted Harry's lower back in a gesture of comfort. Harry smiled a little at the gesture, knowing Dobby meant well. He turned back to Fleur and allowed his mind to wander in the presence of two of his closest friends; knowing Dobby would alert him to any intrusions, and that he needed to stay vigilant himself for Fleur's protection.

Mad-Eye's sentiment of "Constant Vigilance" had never rung truer for Harry than in did now.

**(With Hooch and Luna)**

Rolanda was elated to be back in the safety of the confines of her home in Scotland. It was a new thing for her to have a student with her at her home, but it was not necessarily a bad thing. Luna was never a student to be close to any teachers, or students really for that matter. The professors, well those who did not view students as 'dunderheads', often worried in the young blonde's earliest years at Hogwarts at her apparent lack of connection with not only her housemates, but the rest of the school in general. It was rare for a student to go through their time at Hogwarts without finding a single friend, and thus automatically concerning to the professors.

Looking at the girl; no young woman, Roland mentally corrected, who stood before her now…the elder witch couldn't help but wonder where she found the strength. It was uncanny; most people would have given up after a while, a week, maybe a few days, but not Luna. Brilliant, quirky, friendless Luna had tirelessly endured what would bring many who had been loved and supported by friends to their knees. It was both baffling and very simple for Rolanda to figure out.

Luna Lovegood was not used to having others around to support her, and so, when she was put in situations where she had to support herself she was more adept than many of age witches and wizards. It was tearing Rolanda inside a little to realize that underneath everything, it was the loneliness that the strength came from. Luna had been so lonely in Hogwarts that she did not notice, or perhaps did not care, about the loneliness of being held alone in a cell.

Finally, turning to the girl in question, Rolanda spoke, "It's not much, but it's my home." She paused before continuing, "And I would like you to consider it yours as well for the time being." Luna's silvery eyes widened at the last statement, although it was missed by the hawk-eyed woman who had turned and started toward the front doors of the house.

Wide-eyed, Luna looked at the house before her; a smaller sized, one-story stone cottage-style house with a rather large, sweeping green yard and many vine-like plants growing around it met her gaze. While immensely different from the Lovegood home, there was still an appeal to the squat building, a homey feeling that Luna hadn't quite anticipated from the usually sharp professor.

When Luna eventually trundled inside the house after her flying professor, she was unsurprised to see that the inside was magically made larger than the outside, although not by as much as she had anticipated. She looked around, silver eyes gaining a glassy look despite the attention she was paying.

Immediately Luna noticed that the main pictures around and there weren't all that many, were not of family members, but rather of either Madame Hooch and a few other professors, name McGonagall, Pomfrey, Sprout and one or two with a few others, or they were of Madame Hooch and some of her past students.

'No family…how strange…' Luna mused. Even Ronald Weasley, who she knew resented his brothers, and Draco Malfoy who never seemed to have love for anything but his and his father's reputation, both kept family photos with them at Hogwarts.

The younger witch was pulled from her musing when Hooch murmured, "There are clothes upstairs for you, lass. You can go take a shower if you'd like and get changed, we'll eat after that." It was said softly, more as a suggestion than an order; it was a tone that Luna was unaccustomed to hearing from her usually commanding flying coach.

Nodding Luna started in a sort of daze-like state down the hall leaving Rolanda to wonder whether she should go help the young woman find the bathroom, but also knowing her house was too small for it to really be an issue. When she heard a door shut softly and what sounded like the beginnings of someone starting a shower, Rolanda allowed herself to relax slightly and go to the kitchen.

It would be hard getting someone like Luna to talk about the torment she had endured after all; the blonde was accustomed to looking after herself. Rolanda sighed, 'A lonely girl, who always outwardly appeared to be the epitome of contentment.' It was unnerving really.

Haphazardly going through the motions of preparing tea, Rolanda allowed her thoughts to wander to the blonde currently down the hall. Rolanda herself had more than one brush with torture and the Cruciatus Curse in particular during the first rise of Voldemort, but that only served to make it more obvious to her that Luna was in pain.

One did not simply endure weeks of torture and then walk away speaking of hefflumps. Rolanda knew that all too well; it had taken Minerva and Poppy more than a few months to get her on her feet again. It had taken a few weeks to get her past being almost catatonic. No, Rolanda did not believe for one moment that Luna Lovegood was alright.

The question now was, would Luna ever open up to her? And how much would Rolanda herself have to show to Luna before the blonde would?

**(At Hogwarts)**

Hermione sighed quietly as she wordlessly packedher bag. Pavarti and Lavender were asleep, and Hermione had cast _silencio_ around herself and her part of their shared dorm so as to not disturb them as she packed. It was strange, she had never been close to either girl in their 7 years together, but she still felt a hollow sadness in her chest realizing that she did not know when she would see them again.

McGonagall had told her that she would be going to stay with Tonks for a short time before being sent on to stay with another Order member in a more remote area of the UK. It wasn't ideal by any means, but Hermione had finally conceded what they had been trying to tell her all along; Hogwarts was no longer safe for Muggleborns. It was barely safe for half-bloods.

The brunette thought of her parents, still safely in Australia…would she live to see them again? She'd read that the spell would break if she died, but she'd tinkered some and managed to set a timer, linking it magically so that when the war ended her mum and dad's memories would be restored. It had involved a complex looping of magic to align itself with the level of residual dark magic in wizarding England.

Shaking her head, Hermione looked at the now packed trunk and quietly shrunk it before placing it in her pocket. The hardest part was writing her formal resignation as a student. Now sitting on her pillow was a piece of parchment on which she had neatly scratched

_I, Hermione Jean Granger, do hereby formally withdraw my enrollment in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In doing this I recognize that I am relinquishing the school and its staff of all responsibility for my wellbeing and education, as well as that any further seeking of education at a later date, such as the undertaking of the N.E.W.T examinations are my sole responsibility._

She had finished by signing her name, leaving a space for Snape to sign later, making the document official. Well…at least she wasn't being expelled. Somehow she gained no comfort from that knowledge, especially given Ron's explosion earlier that evening when she'd returned to the room of requirement to tell him what Professor McGonagall had wanted.

_"WHAT?!" he'd roared. "You can't just suddenly leave! You're all the same aren't you! Everyone just leaves me here you coward! What kind of Gryffindor leaves in the midst of battle?" His face was rapidly turning puce as he raged. _

_ "One that doesn't want to die." She said softly. Ron snorted. Honest to goodness snorted at her response. _

_ "Die? Is that what you think? Hermione, you're acting like Harry. It isn't like that; this isn't going to be your death if you stay here!" she was vaguely horrified that Ron seemed almost amused at her concern for her own livelihood. _

_ "Ronald!" she snapped. "This __**is**__ life and death. I've already had more hell this month than you ever have in your life! And don't you __**dare**__ tell me that I shouldn't worry for my safety! Look at what happened to Luna, Ron! Or have you forgotten about her already? Luna was a pureblood Ronald! A pureblood who was taken to God knows where and we don't even know if she's alive!" Hermione cried. _

_ Face gaining a rapidly closed off look Ron snapped, "Don't make this about her! What happened to Looney is different—she was always off and you know it. Hell, she antagonized them so much some people are surprised she didn't disappear sooner." _

_ The callousness of Ron's tone floored Hermione. "What is __**wrong**__ with you?!" Hermione yelled, wanting to slap the boy silly. "Luna's going through hell now and you don't even care! You don't even seem to always care that Harry's gone!" she sniped, peevishly. _

_ Ron said nothing; his silence was too much for Hermione. The silence seemed to take on a life of its own, filling the room with tension as Hermione realized the truth. _

_ "Unbelievable." She said softly, causing the silent redhead to look at her in confusion._

_ "Wha—?"_

_ "I can't __**believe**__ Ronald Weasley! Even though he's running the risk of being killed trying to protect people, you're __**STILL**__ jealous of Harry!" she sneered, disgusted. _

"_Well," she said haughtily. "I'm sorry you feel that way Ronald, but I'm leaving Hogwarts. I just came to say my goodbyes." And with that she turned and left._

It hurt like hell to know that Ron was still holding on to lingering jealousy for their best friend. The same best friend Hermione had been mourning the loss of for _months._ The brunette had, of course, had her suspicions at times because it sometimes seemed like while they were at Hogwarts Ron was almost glad that Harry was gone. It had unnerved her to the point that Hermione had started seeking Neville, and even Luna, for comfort instead of Ron when she missed Harry.

Shaking her head Hermione steadied herself and quietly crept out of the room, casting a Disillusionment Charm on herself before leaving Gryffindor's common room and making her way to the main doors; it was time to go meet Tonks in Hogsmead.

When Hermione silently crept across the lawn she couldn't help but shiver. She knew that she was technically invisible, but the disillusionment charm could be detected if one was to try hard enough. Though she didn't know that anyone would try to stop her leaving…almost all the muggleborns had left by now, if they had returned at all. Wrapping her arms around herself, Hermione walked to the main path to the gates. She had crossed the main lawns of Hogwarts and was fast approaching the gates, it was dark and the swaying trees gave her the creeps, but, wand firmly in hand, Hermione marched on.

Finally, arriving at the large stone posts that marked the entrance to Hogwarts, Hermione turned and looked back at the castle that had become her second home. She felt an intense sadness to know she may never see it again, or at least not for quite some time, but eventually she tore her eyes away, stepped through the gates and began the trek to Hogsmead.

It was a long walk, and truthfully Hermione felt less safe off Hogwarts grounds than she did on them, but regardless of that she walked the half hour to Hogsmead before finally arriving. McGonagall had told her she would find Tonks at the Hogshead pub. There was irony that she was returning to that place to flee when she had first gone there to start an opposition. Admittedly the opposition had been to one foul woman, not an entire army under a psychotic dark lord, but Hermione still found it vaguely humorous.

Removing the disillusionment charm, Hermione entered the dingy pub. Hermione immediately spotted Tonks, recognizing the particular disguise the metamorph was using. Quietly walking over, Hermione sat down across from Tonks, who currently had chestnut hair and bright blue eyes, looking to be about 19.

Tonks gave her a sad smile before speaking, "Do you want anything to drink?" Hermione shook her head.

Nodding, Tonks stood and Hermione rose following the older witch to the door of the pub. It was time to go. When they stepped out of the pub, Tonks gently gripped Hermione's hand and with a sudden crack they disappeared, leaving only the still night air behind them. 

**AN:/ So, hopefully that wasn't too horrible? Moreover FINALLY we get to see Harry and Fleur actually talk to each other without a flashback! Yay! More of that to come I assure you. Anyway, as always, favs, follows, reviews, flames, questions, comments, queries and concerns are all much appreciated, and while I'm a slow as shit writer, I do really appreciate all of you sticking with this story for so long. **

_**Next Time: Harry will not realize he's a Horcrux again because he already knows and the author is an idiot for typing the opposite last time! ;) Hermione is going with Tonks, but what will she do there and will she stay with Tonks, or move in with someone else? Will Rolanda manage to get Luna to open up? Will Fleur tell Harry everything when she wakes back up? So many questions to go! Moreover, what will Emmeline have to tell Harry about the blood from the Hufflepuff cup?**_

**Thanks again for reading!**

**~GGUC**


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